10 Minutes With: Robby Jenks, executive head chef, The Vineyard

Robby Jenks is the executive head chef at The Vineyard, a 5 Star Relais & Châteaux Hotel in Stockcross, Berkshire

The Vineyard in Berkshire is a 5-star hotel and spa, renowned for its impeccable service, 3 AA Rosette restaurant and award-winning 30,000 bottle wine cellar and is a proud member of Relais & Châteaux. 2018 marks the 20 year anniversary of The Vineyard and to mark this milestone, they have created a culinary festival to celebrate the great talents who have cooked in the restaurant's kitchen.

From Monday 25th June to Sunday 1st July, The Vineyard will be host to seven fantastic Michelin starred chefs who will be showcasing their culinary excellence as well as sharing a story or two about their fondest memories of working in the Vineyard kitchen.

Each of the chefs will be working alongside The Vineyard's current executive head chef - Robby Jenks and The Staff Canteen spoke to Robby about Back to the Vine and how he believes it will be an exciting celebration of the culinary heritage of The Vineyard.  

What is the inspiration for Back to the Vine

It is to celebrate our 20th anniversary – the Vineyard has got a great legacy for chefs and they thought it would be a good idea to bring them all back for a week to celebrate some the past.

The Vineyard has always been about food and wine and looking at the chefs that have come through The Vineyard is definitely something to celebrate. We have had a really good pedigree (of chefs) who have done well here or have gone on to do good things in their careers.

Which chefs are taking part in Back to the Vine?

The chefs that will be cooking include Shay Cooper, Nathan Outlaw, Matt Gillan, Richard Davies, John Campbell, Daniel Galmiche and Billy Reid.

The Managing Director Andrew has a good relationship with all of these chefs and felt that these would be the best ones to do Back to the Vine with. Daniel was the most recent chef to have worked at The Vineyard – I took over from him.

They have not all been head chefs at The Vineyard. Daniel has been a head chef, John Campbell who had two Michelin stars here has been a head chef/director and Nathan Outlaw was John Campbell’s head chef and has since gone on to get two Michelin stars. I think that they have gone with the ones that people would be most interested in and also the ones that were there at the most crucial times. It’s good to get them all back. All of the chefs were happy to take part.

The premise of each evening will be 4 or 5 delicious courses expertly paired with wines. How will you be working with each of the chefs involved?

Some of them will be bringing their own chefs, the team at The Vineyard will also help. It will be led by the chef cooking on the night but the initial organisation will come via me when it comes to ordering and stuff like that. I will work with them on that but it will be their showcase on the night. For the back of house, it will be The Vineyard team and the chef's team coming together.

It will be their menu and their style, so I imagine that Nathan Outlaw will be cooking fish and I know that Billy Reid is quite a classical chef, Daniel is obviously French, so he has French influences. It’s all about what they want to do on the night. It’s about showcasing them as chefs. We haven’t given them any kind of remit that they want to follow. We do wine as well and that will be a big part of it.

What are you most looking forward to about ‘cooking with the guest chefs and about Back to the Vine as a whole?

By celebrating our twenty years in a really good way, it’s always great to cook with other chefs it brings a nice atmosphere into the kitchen and it brings something a little bit different for my team too. It freshens things up and these chefs (that are coming back) for some of them for my team are their culinary heroes. People like Nathan Outlaw and other chefs are big leaders in the industry, so they are looking forward to it as well.

Back to the Vine will include an ‘interactive’ dining experience – can you tell me a bit more about this?
We will have TV screens in the restaurant with a live link through to the kitchen. Three guests per course will be plucked out of the dining room and invited to go into the kitchen where they can see the chef preparing that course .

What do you think are the main benefits for both chefs and guests with regards to chef collaborations?

It’s nice for our local diners to experience chefs that are doing something special in the industry on their doorstep. You don’t have to travel to do it which is great for them. We have a lot of regular guests booked in and they are saying “It will be great to see Nathan Outlaw’s food in our favourite restaurant”. It offers them an opportunity to try something different.

You have been at the Vineyard now for over two years, what has been your favourite thing about working there so far?

It is a bigger hotel than I have worked in before, I have learnt a lot more about managing teams. I have learnt a lot about creating relationships throughout the hotel, rather than just the kitchen. There is a lot more of management structure here, so I have learnt a lot of stuff about that. I was a head chef before I came here so I came here with a lot to offer, but I have learnt a lot working within a bigger structure. I don’t have to worry about a lot of stuff and am able to just focus on the food which is great. You have got all of the resources behind you. In a smaller hotel, chefs tend to get dragged into lots of things. Here it gives me time to work with a big team in the kitchen and everything flows a bit nicer really

What can diners expect from 'Back to the Vine'

I would say the best wine, leading chefs – the best in the industry great wine, great food and there is the accommodation too. You can experience food from a fantastic chef in a five-star environment with some of the best wine.