Kerridge’s Hand & Flowers names new head chef

02-May-2019 - Last updated on 02-May-2019 at 15:44 GMT

Double achievement: the Hand & Flowers holds two Michelin stars

Celebrity chef Tom Kerridge’s double Michelin-starred pub the Hand & Flowers in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, has a new head chef.

Jamie May replaces Aaron Mulliss who is leaving the kitchen after more than a decade to pursue new venues, The Morning Advertiser’s sister title Big Hospitality reported.

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After 12 amazing years, my trusted and loyal friend, amazing head chef, brilliant cook and kitchen organiser @chefdaz82 has moved on. He joined me as a chef de partie in a battered kitchen at the back of a one star pub and joined me at the hip and took @handfmarlow to a place that none of us could have ever dreamt of. We were blown away and humbled by the recognition in the Michelin Guide in 2011 on receiving that 2 star status. Aaron has been instrumental in driving things forward, keeping that consistency, and building that kitchen. He started off in a tiny space where you couldn’t fit more than 3 chefs, to the point where The Hand & Flowers has a full brigade of 22 in a kitchen that has gone through 3 building site transformations. Last night, legends past and present joined us in the kitchen for Aaron’s final service @chrismackett @beardymanchef @luke_batch @olliebrown7786 @tomdekeyser45 My love and support of Aaron follows him on whichever path he decides to go on and I’m sure more exciting memories and moments will follow. I will be forever grateful for his unshakeable work ethic, drive and passion. Good luck for the future my friend @jdogchef OVER TO YOU!
A post shared by Tom Kerridge (@cheftomkerridge) on Apr 30, 2019 at 4:38am PDT

Kerridge said: “Jamie has worked alongside me for eight years, moving from junior sous chef and now as the new head chef.

“This is the perfect next step for Jamie and the Hand & Flowers, his creativity, vision and passion for food encompasses everything we do [here]."

Favourite pub chef

He added: “He understands guests’ needs and we are very much looking forward to seeing Jamie progress professionally and personally in this new role.”

Meanwhile, Kerridge was voted the UK’s favourite pub chef last year, in a survey based on cookbook sales over the past two decades.

The two Michelin-starred chef who runs three pubs – the Hand & Flowers, the Coach and the Butcher’s Tap, all in Marlow, Buckinghamshire – was number 11 on the list.

He opened a new restaurant, Kerridge’s Bar & Grill, his first site in London, this month (September), at the Corinthia Hotel London in Westminster.

Popular cuisine

The research, based on cookbook sales, was carried out by price comparison website GoCompare which studied the UK’s favourite chefs, ranked by the popularity of their books to have appeared on Amazon’s best-selling books chart between 1998 and 2018.

Kerridge wasn’t the only pub chef to be mentioned with Heston Blumenthal, who owns the Hind’s Head at Bray, Berkshire, coming in at number 19.

GoCompare also revealed the most popular cuisine from Amazon’s best-selling books archive, which was fusion, with British-inspired food in second place, and veggie or vegan in third.

When it came to the most popular category of genre cookbook, diets and healthy eating topped the list with 73 books.