I’d always been interested in food and cooking, but in 2004 I embraced haute cuisine, in the sense of food conceived as an aesthetic form of art. Focus on ingredient selection, interesting flavour/texture combinations, complex multi-component dishes, multi-course (six to ten) dinners for friends… though that’s not to say all my cooking was (or is) orientated that way.

Returning from life in Vancouver, a city with a justified reputation for high quality value-for-money top-end fine dining and an accompanying wine focus, I felt inspired to hone some new creations. Captivated by the philosophies of fusion cooking, nouvelle cuisine, seasonality, and high class presentation, I began to develop complete multi-course menus.

The overall aim was to create food which was refined and attractive, as well as being innovative and challenging.

With the significant North American influence, I was initially inspired by chefs as Rob Feenie (Lumière) and Thomas Keller(surely no reference required ) but soon after broadened dish concepts to utilise local British ingredients and became influenced by Heston Blumenthal, Pierre Gagnard, Hervé This and David Everitt-Matthias. Blogs  like Ideas In Food and Studio Kitchen provided great inspiration too.

Development was driven by a passion for cooking (which sounds silly now, but only because it’s become a cliché in today’s ridiculous celebrity chef pop-cooking-culture), crafting/artistry, anal retention to perfectionism (within the confines of limited equipment etc), and (perhaps most importantly) cooking for friends.

This blog will document my ongoing culinary experimentation, as well as loosely report on some of the concepts and creations that were reported in the old blog.