Young chef heads the brigade at Taplow House Hotel
At just 24, Rob Lacey has stepped up to the lead role in the kitchen at Taplow House Hotel, becoming head chef for the hotel’s renowned Berry’s restaurant. He is also responsible for the hotel’s popular wedding and conference dining.
Rob says he is not nervous about the new responsibility: “I’ve got the experience and background to do it and I believe I’ve proved myself over the past eight years.
“Over recent years I have been sous chef here for Neil Dore, who is an excellent Michelin chef. He says he’s taught me everything he knows, and it was a brilliant training.”
So what’s new? Rob says he is building on Neil Dore’s foundation, continuing the hotel’s reputation for good classic British food, using well sourced local ingredients wherever possible, and cooking everything – including bread and pastries – in-house. But he enjoys adding a personal twist.
He explains: “I like to play with ideas, so that diners get classic dishes made a little exciting. For example, rather than serve steak with chips and onion rings, I serve steak with sweet potato chips, tempura spring onions, portobello balsamic mushrooms and home made tomato chutney. It flies out of the door. Regulars love it.”
Rob comes from the area and has always lived locally, learning his trade with an apprenticeship which culminated in his winning a new chef competition at Hotel Olympia in a live show in front of 300 people. “At age 18 that was a brilliant experience,” he says, “and since then I’ve just kept on learning from good chefs.”
The key requirement in his new role, Rob says, is flexibility. “In a hotel such as this one might be planning how to make cream teas on the terrace a memorable treat, matching bridal couples’ individual dreams for their wedding meal, ensuring all hotel guests get the kind of food they want, from light snacks to fine dining, and continually enhancing the experience in the restaurant. There’s never a dull moment!”
And even while Rob is busy with his kitchen team, his head is buzzing with ideas for the next menu: he works out what will be in season and then “I sit down and think for a couple of weeks, devising ways of bringing out the best in the new season’s produce.”
* Taplow House Hotel, open daily for lunch, dinner and afternoon tea, tel 01628 670056.