Be a chef for the day, cook with a Michelin starred chef and learn some of his kitchen secrets.

Located in the pretty riverside town of Marlow in Buckinghamshire, UK, in a traditional half-timbered inn, is The Hand & Flowers, a laid back, Michelin starred pub and dining room owned by husband and wife team, Tom & Beth Kerridge. Responsibilities are split with Chef Tom to be found in the kitchen and Beth overseeing the running of the business.

Gloucester born Tom’s CV includes time at the Capital, Rhodes in the Square, Odette’s in Primrose Hill and Monsieur Max in Twickenham. Prior to The Hand & Flowers, he was head chef at one-Michelin-star Adlard’s in Norwich, which gave him the opportunity and confidence of running a restaurant kitchen. After a two-year stint there he decided it was time to return to the South-East. “I wanted to re-focus the food I was doing; maybe I was trying to be too clever at Adlard’s and that’s not really what I’m about. I’m about basic, strong, good cooking and a pub seemed right.”

It took a year to find the Hand & Flowers and it was a “stinking hole of a place” when Tom and Beth took over in February 2005. Following a thorough refurbishment, the pub reopened.

The Hand & Flowers has allowed Tom to develop his signature menu of robust dishes. “Ingredients are key to what we do and we make sure that we source the best available according to the season” – chicken and pork from Suffolk, oysters from Northern Ireland, vegetables from Covent Garden – and local suppliers are used where possible. Signature dishes include potted Dorset crab with brown bread, cucumber and dill chutney and seasonal specialities including rack of lamb, braised white beans, pickled girolles, broccoli and herb sauce; or braised shin of beef with herb dumpling and parsnip purée.

In 2008, Tom built a new, state-of-the-art kitchen in an extension at the back of the pub. That space is now given over to training and Tom is looking to launch a series of cookery courses in the summer, along themes such as preparing and cooking fish and baking.  Keep an eye on the website for updates.

The roomy new kitchen has also allowed Tom to offer diners the opportunity to join him and the team for a ‘chef for the day’ experience, offering hands on experience in a Michelin starred kitchen, prepping and cooking the lunch service before taking a “well earned rest”.

Since opening, Tom has established the Hand & Flowers amongst the highest rated food pubs in the country, with a Michelin star, a rating of 6 in the 2007 Good Food Guide, and three AA rosettes. Tom and the pub have also won numerous awards, as diverse as Best Pub Chef at the Craft Guild of Chefs awards, Best Newcomer from the Publican, Buckinghamshire Newcomer of the Year from the Good Food Guide and Best Fish and Chips in Restaurant Magazine.  Heston Blumenthal, who lives in the area, and his fellow Michelin men the Roux brothers are regulars.

For more information or to book for ‘chef for the day’, call The Hand and Flowers on +44 (0) 1628 482277 or visit their website.