The Hand and Flowers - Marlow, England

My name is Callum Priest and I’ve started work at the Hand and Flowers in Marlow, England. This is a 2 Michelin star pub with four AA rosettes, owned by Tom Kerridge, it opened in 2005 and is still going strong. It was awarded its first Michelin star in 2006 and got its second star in 2011. The restaurant is now run by head chef Tom De Keyser, who started in the Hand 2 years ago, before this he was at The Coach, another business in the Tom Kerridge company that also has a Michelin star.

I started work on Monday the 15^th of August, having the title of Demi Chef De Partie and I am seriously enjoying the time I have been there so far. The team here are incredibly friendly and welcoming and I feel that I fit in very well. My first day I started on the larder section, which is in charge of starters, I was happily surprised that I was put straight onto service as I could get a feel of how the kitchen operates. During these 2 weeks on this section, I got to meet Tom Kerridge and had a chat with him about where I’m from and what I was doing before moving here. Have to say it was a bit of shock seeing him the first time as he is such a well-known chef and I was a little bit nervous.

Over the next week I became more and more comfortable with the place and was then moved onto the garnish section, which is responsible for the garnish and sides for the main course dishes. I again got heavily involved in this section helping with service and also doing miso during the day.

The following week was the staff party, which was at Tom Kerridge’s house, which I still think is amazing that I got to go there, it just shows how much he cares about the staff. As there are 5 business’ in the company there was a lot of staff present, we were treated to drinks and food all day, as well as a boat trip back to the town when it was over. Having this on the third week of being there really helped me get to know more of the staff and actually have a normal conversation outside of work.

I found that I was always looking forward to going to work each morning even though the hours are long, starting at 7:30 in the morning and not finishing until 11:30 at night, with 80+ hours worked per week. The food is fantastic, simple, normal ingredients done very well. The first few weeks were incredibly exciting and I am looking forward to learning so much more from the place!