We recently found ourselves with a big role to fill as we said goodbye to our head chef. It can be a challenge to find chefs who are as obsessed with vegetables as we are, but we're delighted to have found one, in the form of Patrick Hanna, whose Riverford journey first began in 2008.
“When I moved from Belfast to London, I took a job washing dishes in this weird pub turned restaurant in Islington, serving organic food. The pub was called the Duke of Cambridge. This led to a short stint at the Riverford Field Kitchen. I had no idea what an amazing journey of fascination with food and farming this would get going".
Patricks food journey has taken him worldwide, including a farm in Spain and a biodynamic vineyard in Australia, but most recently he has been head chef at Offley Works Canteen and prior to that L'Entrepot in Hackney.
Patrick's passion for The Field Kitchen stems from the unique connection the food served has with the surrounding fields. He believes in the power of simplicity and quality ingredients, and hates food that is unrecognisable from its natural form.
It seems like a return to Riverford was meant to be for Patrick, especially as someone who shares a unique love of artichokes and cardoons with founder Guy Singh-Watson. Either that or our big, colourful sharing platters of organic veg and infamous sticky toffee pud are too good to stay away from!
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