Tom Kerridge My Norfolk Food Hero

He may have made his fame and fortune at double Michelin-starred gastropub The Hand and Flowers, but superstar chef Tom Kerridge had a springboard to success in Norfolk.

- Frank Grice

FROM A kitchen the size of a modest cupboard, chef Tom Kerridge revolutionised the ideal of the Great British Pub. After taking over The Hand and Flowers in the leafy village of Marlow, Tom and his wife Beth set about transforming the establishment into Britain’s finest gastropub, a feat recognised by its award of two Michelin stars – a calibre of appreciation usually reserved for romantically influenced, opulently-presented restaurants.

The man who can claim at least some credit for setting the young Tom on his way was Norfolk’s David Adlard, chef/patron of the eponymous Norwich restaurant and first man to earn a Michelin star in East Anglia. He gave Tom his first head chef role in 2003 and treated the young man to a valuable education in the entwining elements that make up a successful restaurant.

“I think the main thing I learned from David Adlard was the understanding of making your own business work – how to drive things forward in your own way… how to make decisions that are solely yours,” Tom explains.

“So it wasn’t just about learning how to be a chef, it was also about learning to be a businessman, about what to do and what not to do. He’d been a chef and business owner for 25 years and had made his fair share of mistakes, so I could pick his brain of all sorts of things.” 

Over a decade later and the Hand and Flowers is still thriving on what Tom calls “unpretentious modern British flavours”; tastes and trends that stand alone without the need for trickery or odd, arrogant, flavour combinations.