Pete’s born and bred in Padstow and he’s now Head Chef of Rick Stein’s flagship restaurant The Seafood Restaurant.
What’s your earliest food memory?
My earliest food memory is probably going around my Gran’s house, she used to make these gigantic pasties the ones that would fill a whole plate, a very happy and full young boy!
Did you always want to be a chef?
No, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do growing up, I did train as a plumber, whilst working as a young chef and found that being a chef was more fun! Always new ingredients, fisherman at the door and the camaraderie with the team made it not feel like a job more of a hobby! I loved it!
Tell us about your career – where have you worked/trained?
I began as a KP, aged 14 at St Petroc’s Bistro and worked my way up to Chef de partie before moving to The Seafood Restaurant as Sous Chef. After some time in London, working with Claude Bosi Hibiscus I returned to Stein’s and I’m now head chef of the flagship, The Seafood Restaurant.
What’s your favourite thing about/ working in Cornwall?
Cornwall is a beautiful place, we can literally walk out the front door and look out to the Camel Estuary – it’s beautiful, and the produce we get is the best around, the fish and shellfish from the local fisherman is literally straight out of the sea and into our kitchen – you don’t get that in London! The people are what make it though, the characters and that everyone knows everyone – it’s a friendly place to work and grow-up.
Aside from your own, what Cornish restaurants would you recommend?
Really like Four Boys in Rock, it’s a small place but buzzing with the simple fresh dishes. I’ve also recently been to Native Burger, an ex-rick stein chef Luke Taylor’s place, and it’s awesome – especially the ‘workout’ burger.
What would your last request dish be?
My last dish request dish would be braised brill, with potato slivers, mushrooms and fresh truffle – it’s one of my favourite dishes to cook at The Seafood Restaurant as it has a brilliant combination of flavours and is totally moorish!
What one piece of advice would you give to aspiring chefs?
The advice I would give is learn the basics first, really learn your trade, surround yourself with good chefs and feed off their knowledge and experiences. Historically chefs work long hours, and even though the tide is changing to offer a better work-life balance, you will still need to work hard and enjoy it.
Do you have any interesting/unusual Christmas food traditions from your family?
The usual starter my dad and I have is big hand dived scallops, the rest of the family go for the prawn cocktail, but we have the biggest scallops – I usually add a bit of chorizo in the pan as well, goes down a treat!