With 20 years of culinary experience from some of the most prestigious restaurants in Europe, George Blogg was appointed Head Chef at luxury boutique hotel Gravetye Manor in 2014.

George, who is responsible for continuing the culinary notability of the Grade I-listed landmark hotel, achieved Michelin star status in 2015. Led by the produce grown in Gravetye Manor’s iconic gardens, George is famed for his focus on unpretentious, seasonal dishes. His menus are built around four elements: the Kitchen Garden, produce foraged from the land, the Smokehouse and local suppliers. He is also influenced by the orchards and the glass houses, as well as the surrounding Sussex countryside.

George’s impressive career began aged 16 when he worked in Dorchester restaurant, La Caverna. After working as sous chef at The Riverside Restaurant in Dorset, George attended catering college before travelling around Europe to complete stages at the likes of Noma, Copenhagen and Belgium’s In De Wulf. Upon returning to London, George worked at Mayfair’s two Michelin-starred The Square, and two Michelin-starred Le Champignon Sauvage in Cheltenham.

George went on to work as head chef at Gerard Basset’s Hotel Terravina in the New Forest, before taking the helm at Gravetye Manor. In addition to its Michelin star, Gravetye Manor has also won three AA rosettes under George’s lead, with George named the Good Food Guide Editor’s Chef to Watch in 2014.

www.gravetyemanor.co.uk

Try one of Daniel’s recipes at home

Heritage Garden Beetroot Salad with High Weald Dairy cow’s curd, white balsamic and toasted seeds

Slow Cooked Dingley Dell Pork Belly with green asparagus, wild garlic, gremolata and cider gel

Why did you start cooking?  Growing up I lived in the countryside – my parents had an allotment and were passionate about growing their own fruit and vegetables. Since then I’ve always had an interest in food. I started in the industry at a small Italian restaurant washing dishes after school and they soon asked me to come in on a Saturday to help cook and prepare food, from then I was hooked and fascinated with finding new flavour and texture combinations. I actually ended up studying geology at university and it wasn’t until I’d graduated and was looking for a job that I began working in hotels and kitchens.

How would you describe your style of food?  My style of food is very much unpretentious, it’s logical, texturally diverse, quite natural, and is a true reflection of Gravetye Manor, both spatially and temporally. It reflects the beautiful Sussex countryside and produce, most notably what is grown in the Gravetye gardens. Above all that, we try to make it as flavoursome and as delicious as possible.

What is your signature dish?  The most representational dish, and ever changing through the seasons, is the Gravetye Garden Salad. Yes, it sounds a bit boring, but this starter can contain up to 30 different elements, all of them grown (or laid!) on the Gravetye Estate. It doesn’t show off any fancy cooking techniques, but it is a hugely interesting, beautiful and diverse array of fresh ingredients served at their best.

What should people expect when they come to Gravetye Manor for a meal?  We recently reopened after the build of a brand new restaurant. It’s a really stunning space, and thanks to the floor to ceiling windows it seamlessly links the dining area to the gardens. It makes for a pretty special setting for a lunch or dinner, looking out to the gardens where the ingredients on your plate have come from. People should expect a seasonally changing menu that showcases the best of our produce. I regularly go and chat with the gardeners to find out what is at its best, and that will influence what I serve each day.

From where do you source your produce?  In the summer months 95% of the fruits, vegetables and herbs used in the kitchen are grown on site and everything that doesn’t get used by the kitchen when fresh is then either pickled or preserved. For ingredients outside of what is available at Gravetye, we always go for quality local producers and suppliers. For fish, we use Brighton and Newhaven Fish Sales, a company owned by a cooperative of fisherman, with a focus on sustainable fishing and quality produce. We get the fish direct from them, cutting out the middleman, meaning we always have the freshest pick. The Cheese Man, based in Brighton, offers amazing local cheeses. They stock about 250 British cheeses from Sussex, Kent and Hampshire – a personal favourite of mine is the Brighton Blue.

What and where do you like to eat on your night off?  When you cook all day there is nothing better than sitting down and eating something that someone else has prepared. It doesn’t really matter who has cooked it or even what it is. It could be my wife, Helen, cooking a roast chicken with all the trimmings, or The Cat Inn, in West Hoathly, eating a nice piece of fish from the specials board.

What is your earliest memory of food?  My first memory eating out was a bowl of Bouillabaisse style fish soup in Dorset. It was a starter, so enough for me as a whole meal, and I remember just being able to peer over the edge of the bowl and see the chunks of fish and oil floating on the surface.

Who has been your biggest influence?  I’ve worked under some amazing head chefs over the last 10 years, including Phil Howard and David Everitt-Matthias, and learnt incredible skills as a result. They both nurture young talent and taught me a great deal. That being said, I don’t think anything can compete with the simple home cooked food that my mother used to grow and prepare when I was young. I think that early development of taste and enjoyment for properly cooked, fresh, healthy and additive free food influences my judgement the most.

What are your ambitions for the future?  To continue to cook food that guests enjoy eating, and to try and get better and better at it.

What advice would you give to aspiring young chefs?  Try to work in the best places possible. Research and find the specific restaurants that you personally would like to work in, and send a CV to them directly. For me, it shows dedication and commitment if I get a CV through to me, rather than via a recruitment agency. Work in a place that nurtures talents and is always encouraging you to push for the next level.

From where do you get your creative inspiration?  The seasonally changing menus I create at Gravetye are very much led by the gardens. I take inspiration not only from what the gardeners tell me is at its prime, but also from the colours that can be seen across the grounds and the textures that best represent that. We always try to ensure that the flavours on the plate blend seamlessly with the setting.

For someone eating at Gravetye Manor, what dish or dishes on the menu would you most recommend?  The Gravetye Garden salad is always a must try in my eyes, I think it really showcases the very best of Gravetye, despite being a ‘simple’ dish. This should be followed by the South Coast crab with cucumber, borage, brown crab emulsion and caviar.

What’s one of your favourite experiences as far as culinary expeditions and travel are concerned?  For my honeymoon, we went to New Zealand and stayed at Huka Lodge. We’d wake up first thing and catch trout from Lake Taupo, which they would then smoke and serve to us for breakfast. It was out of this world. Whilst New Zealand isn’t known for being a particularly foodie destination, the produce available there is amazing thanks to the climate. With a tropical north and much gentler south, the range and variety of produce available is excellent.