David Taylor, Chef/Director, Grace & Savour “How do we build teams? How do we build people? How do we build craft?”

For David Taylor, Chef Director of Grace & Savour, it wasn’t so much whether he wanted to become a Michelin-starred chef but how soon he could get there.

From a very early age, David wanted to become a chef. It was a chance meeting with Brian Turner at the Good Food Show that started it all, when David asked him if he could visit and do a day in his kitchen, and he said yes. “I really wanted to be a chef,” shares David.

The kitchen was calling from day one

That day at the esteemed Turner’s in Knightsbridge, London, more than two decades ago, set David on a path to realising his career dream. “I was sold at that point,” he confirms. He’d have to ‘wait’ until he was 16, though, to get his first job in a kitchen. It may sound young to many of us, but it didn't feel that way for a young David who knew exactly what he wanted to do, itching to get in chef's whites. “I didn't get my first job until I was about 16, when I went to college,” he says.

He began his career by working at restaurant chain Le Bistrot Pierre.  “Everything was made fresh,” David says, including all of their stocks and daily specials. “It was a really busy Bistro and a great offering,” he adds.

From there, David set his sights on a full-time role, which came to him at Maze by Gordon Ramsay, when Jason Atherton was the chef. A huge first for David, saw him grab the opportunity with both hands and move to London.

“I was 19, way over my head,” he says. It was there that David confessed he experienced a mix of incredible learning and discipline. “They taught me so much,” he says. “It's a very intense environment, but it really gave me a foundation for what I would then build up from there.” At Maze, David also worked with Glynn Purnell, who would be his mentor for seven years.

“He took me under his wing and really kind of brought me up,” David says. Those early teachers in both career and life cannot be underestimated, and is something David is very grateful for. “Glynn just very much breathed confidence in life into me, and it gave me the sense of, ‘I can do this’,” David shares.

Finding his next chapter

Having spent a career-defining seven years at Maze, it was unclear what was to come next. “I was wondering about my final chapter,” says David. From Maze, he did a short stint in Chicago with a group called Grace in Chicago, which went on to win three Michelin stars with Curtis Duffy. Then, he went to New York and spent time with Tierra.

From the US, David came back to Europe, where he travelled to Copenhagen and spent a week at Relæ restaurant, working under Christian Puglisi. “He has an incredible chef brain, in terms of thinking about how we look at our food in the world, just a real inspiration,” says David. But that wouldn’t be his final chapter.

He then had the opportunity to go to Maaemo in Oslo, a two Michelin-starred restaurant. David would spend two years there, and was part of the team who won Maaemo’s third Michelin star. An incredible accomplishment, it was also a surprising one. “You can never know who's going to win what, as we all have our ideas, our predictions, so much that you never really know,” says David.

It was there at Maaemo and its whole trajectory that very much shaped the vision of how David and his team would go on to build Grace & Savour. But that wasn’t to come just yet.

David stayed in Oslo and worked as a patisserie chef at The Thief for three more years. It was there that gave him the foundation of understanding how to run multiple operations and think very differently about costing food and running a business, all while running a luxury five-star hotel. “But it wasn’t really what my heart was about,” David shares.

Grace & Savour: Where immersive fine dining and sustainability meet

Sitting in Birmingham’s luxurious Hampton Manor, Grace & Savour is a Michelin-starred fine dining restaurant specialising in immersive and sustainable British farming and fishing.

It is one that enjoys the eclectic and diverse food scene of the Midlands and stands on the shoulders of giants that have come before it. Giants like Simpsons, Adams and Purnells, which David says “have really helped build us up”.

“Grace & Savour is a restaurant that's all about reflecting the hard work that our farmers in the UK do,” says David. Sustainability, supporting restorative agricultural practices and the circular economy is at the heart of the luxury venue’s ethos.

“The supply chain is really broken,” says David. “Our soil isn't in a great state and even what's going into our foods is very questionable and it's hard to really get straightforward answers. Grace & Savour celebrates all those who are trying to leave our land in a better way than we've found it and reflects the seasons at their absolute peak. “We’re trying to show a different way of farming or cooking,” says David.

From day one, David wanted Grace & Savour to be a visionary venue. It strived to create something that was truly reflective of what was going on outside its walls. It wanted to reconnect people with where our produce comes from and also with each other, both its guests and its team.

Bringing a deeper meaning to what its chefs are handling, Grace & Savour try to shorten the supply chain in many respects and put that direct support into farmers. “My whole vision for Grace & Savour is to tell stories and reflect the pride that we have in everything, all the amazing things we do here in the UK,” says David.

“The best part of working at Grace & Savour is definitely the people we get to work with,” says David. “How it helps to build one another is critical and a key feeling. “Creating a place where people feel pushed, and who are developing, but also that they're safe,” says David.

Bringing the outside, in

Renowned for being built into the very walls of the Victorian Walled Garden, it’s not only beauty that Grace & Savour’s garden provides. It’s a whole load of fresh, seasonal produce too—from blackberries, raspberries, gooseberries and strawberries to rhubarb and beetroot, and asparagus and pickle.

All the menu’s flowers come from a garden or a local biodynamic farm down the road. “That's really unique because it very much is that reflection of what's outside is on the plate,” says David.

With lots of direct relationships with suppliers, the Grace & Savour team get to know everybody, from Ollie, who makes the restaurant’s beef, to Toby, who brings over the team’s flowers and vegetables from one of his farms. “I really love to create: what we do every day, the relationships we've made out of it, the experiences we've created out of it,” says David. “That's what's very unique and special about getting to work here.”

Securing the future of food, one connection and creation at a time

Gaining industry recognition and becoming a Michelin-starred restaurant was truly the cherry on top for David. A reflection of the hard work that goes into getting such a prestigious accolade. “A wonderful achievement,” David shares. “The dedication and hard work that goes into achieving something like a star or any accolades that we've achieved always mean the world.”

As for what future holds for David and the entire team, it’s pursuing its well-traversed approach of its “inward, outward perspective of what Grace & Savour is”. It’s asking lots of questions. “How do we build teams, how do we build people, how do we build craft,” he says. It’s also about ensuring anyone who comes through its doors leaves better in their craft, leadership and communication.

And it goes back to its ethos, bridging sustainability with immersive fine dining. Talking about and celebrating farmers and helping people learn that we’re all actually much closer to a farm than we probably realise. And from there, expanding the idea of trying to leave our land in a better way than we found it.