Paul Collins

Words Glen Cheyne Photography Katharine Davies

Sparrows are squabbling over bugs in the hornbeam and bees are feasting on swollen hedgerows of lavender. Through the front garden and into a cottage that could well be made of marzipan, I pass shelves warped under the weight of culinary tomes, smell what can only be freshly baked bread and on entering the kitchen spy mounds of rugged chocolate chip cookies the size of my hand. It’s 9.30am and I’ve not long had breakfast but I’m hungry all over again.

I’m at home with Paul Collins, internationally renowned and award-laden private chef, respected restaurant consultant, and, more recently, door-stepgodsend to the good people of Charlton Horethorne. >

As you’d expect from someone who has spent 30 years in the upper echelons of the hospitality industry, Paul offers an effortlessly warm welcome. Coffee is poured, the aforementioned cookies are served and before I know it, I’m feeling very much at home. As you might not expect however, from someone who has cooked for celebrities, politicians and the extraordinarily wealthy, Paul is free of pretence. With something of a younger, taller Phil Daniels about him, he is very easy company.

Paul leads me around the garden, talking me through its renovation as swifts scream overhead and on through the valley beyond. It’s brimming with fruit trees, herbs and vegetables and is thick with life. Someone in the Collins household is clearly greenfingered. ‘I’ll take credit for that,’ he smiles. ‘If I had to change professions I’d become a gardener.’ A garden can sometimes tell you all you need to know about its owner. It’s easy to see a committed, hardworking and nurturing hand behind this one. ‘There’s something therapeutic about being out in the garden,’ Paul confesses. He offers me one of the many oak saplings rescued from a friend’s garden – further indication of the gardener’s character.

‘The tuile basket dessert I prepared for Katharine’s photoshoot is the reason I became a chef,’ Paul tells me, as we settle at the garden table. ‘I remember being at home during the school holidays and watching Anton Mosimann create that dessert on Pebble Mill at One. I was about 10 years old and knew straight away that’s what I wanted to do.’

Fast forward 7 years – Paul is studying catering at Aylesbury College and working 40-50 hours a week at a restaurant nearby called Pebbles. ‘My parents were worried I was doing drugs because I looked so ill and pasty and my arms were covered in burns,’ he recalls. ‘My dad would drive me the 25 miles home each night and one evening pointed out that I was earning something like 42p an hour, but I didn’t care. I was only 17 and I loved it – the camaraderie, the heat, the pressure and seeing the food leave the kitchen, thinking my God, that’s something else.’

Pebbles was owned by David and Sue Cavalier. Both graduates of Aylesbury College, they had worked under Anton Mosimann at the Dorchester Hotel and when they left to open Pebbles, Anton was their backer. ‘David and Sue gave a demo at the college one day and created that same tuile basket.’ remembers Paul. ‘I told them afterwards how this dessert had inspired me to become a chef and how much I’d love to work at The Dorchester. The day I graduated, David made a call and my first job out of college was with Mosimann at The Dorchester! I set out with a goal and ended up working for the very person who had inspired me in the first place – a 1 in 100 chance! And that’s pretty much how my career progressed.’

It’s a career that along the way has seen Paul collect Michelin stars, rosettes, turrets and awards aplenty at the likes of Daylesford Organic, The Grove in Hertfordshire, Yeo Valley and Lucknam Park near Bath. ‘Being a chef is a good profession. I’ve loved it, but it’s hard. And if you’re not at the very top or up there somewhere it can be a different kind of tough. I’ve always worked in Michelin-starred restaurants and you get used to that sort of grandeur, but at the bottom end, when you’re struggling for pots and pans – which I’ve seen in my consultancy work – how do you expect someone to do a job if you don’t give them the tools?’

It’s this experience of the industry’s highs and lows that qualifies Paul to offer sage advice and a sometimes healthy dose of realism to those coming up through the ranks. ‘I’ve been doing this at the very highest level for 30 years and I’m seeing a lot of young chefs now wanting to run before they can walk. Being a head chef, you need to be able to do the man-management, the figures and the stocktaking – it’s not just about cooking. You’ve got to make money,’ he says. In the face of soaring costs across many industries, making money is easier said than done. ‘Head chefs cannot rely on the traditionally more glamorous ingredients and need to be imaginative in order to create a quality product while still making a profit. They have to be business people,’ he adds. ‘At the same time, we should be thinking sustainably. One of the wonderful things about working at Yeo Valley and Daylesford was that I relied on the expertise of the gardeners to provide ingredients. It was my job to create a dish using what was growing in the ground at that time, be it beetroot, Jerusalem artichoke, broad beans, whatever – if it’s in season, it’s what we should be using.’

One challenge facing every restaurant owner I speak to is the recruiting and retention of staff. Brexit has of course played its part and the pandemic then compounded the problem, nudging many chefs and restaurant staff into other careers. Paul agrees and offers another possible, more systemic cause. ‘It’s our fault. We’ve taken liberties with staff for far too long. I was part of it and have been guilty of it too. When I first started, 16-18 hour shifts were commonplace. You didn’t get paid for it and you got physically and verbally >

abused, but for me, I was at the top of the tree working for big names. It was just part and parcel of it. In the early 90s, I started documenting things happening around me because I didn’t think anyone would believe me. Customers would see the serene front-of-house but behind the scenes it was chaos.’

Paul’s last employed role before setting up the private dining business was Executive Chef at The Grove in Hertfordshire, a large 5-star hotel and one which hosted the England football team during the last World Cup (it has its own FIFA-certified football pitch). ‘They had 3 restaurants, a banqueting facility and room service. I think we had 80 full-time chefs,’ he recalls. ‘I didn’t cook that year. My job was all about pushing paper, doing the figures, turning up to HOD meetings and having to reprimand staff for wearing non-regulation socks.’

Paul has had opportunities to open his own restaurant but the idea doesn’t appeal. He has experienced firsthand the immense pressure on chefs aspiring to attain and maintain Michelin status. He’s seen relationships suffer, health deteriorate and businesses go bust. Now, as a private chef, Paul is able to create an entirely bespoke experience. Free of bureaucracy and the need to impose a particular menu. Meals can be neatly tailored to please the people present. ‘It’s their house after all,’ he says. ‘I’m there to facilitate a memorable evening.’ I suggest it must be liberating to go from big commercial kitchens to working for yourself. ‘It is. I only answer to my wife now!’

Paul’s wife is the highly-regarded food and interiors photographer Tory McTernan. It’s easy to assume that they met through food photography but they actually worked together at Lucknam Park where Tory was the Conference and Banqueting Manager. The couple have since collaborated on many projects, with Paul creating the dish and Tory shooting it. They work well together but who’s in charge is usually a matter of debate. With Paul and Tory both in high demand (Tory’s currently away on a shoot in Norfolk and Paul is soon to leave for a 5-week stint in LA), family life can take a hit. But the work is good and they make up for the time apart.

Being a chef of repute is one thing, but you have to get along with people to come so highly recommended. And while Paul does bring his own equipment to private bookings, he is basically commandeering your kitchen. ‘If someone came into my kitchen and started

moving stuff around I’d be like Oi! but I’m very precise about the way I leave a kitchen. I have an eye for detail. It’s usually tidier than it was when I found it and you won’t be left with the washing up.’

It’s undoubtedly a privilege to have Paul in your kitchen and to experience a chef working at such close quarters. ‘I was recently cooking at a 40th birthday do – 35 people, breakfast, lunch and dinner, over the course of a weekend. I drew a crowd when making the celeriac remoulade, the proper way, uniformly cut by hand, which is a skill in itself,’ he enthuses. ‘I’ve been asked to include demos as part of the meal, which I’m happy to do. I’ll put the time aside to talk to people about the food, if that’s what they want. Some people just want me out of the way and that’s fine too.’

The 2019 pandemic and subsequent lock-downs presented many chefs with a predicament. Paul responded with aplomb, quickly setting up a local door-to-door delivery service which proved so successful that it continues today (when time allows between private dining jobs). Paul produces a weekly menu along with staples such as bread, sauces and granola. Customers order by email and then collect or have it delivered. ‘The response has been amazing and we’ve built some really nice relationships with people who use us on a weekly basis.’

Paul, Tory and their two children, Ava and George, moved to Charlton Horethorne from Oxford eight years ago and were promptly embraced by the community. ‘I can be out walking the dog for an hour and only get 50 yards down the road. It’s nice, we have common interests. The interaction we have with the village is immense and I love it.’ For all the travel that the couple’s work demands, have they dropped anchor here? ‘Definitely. Definitely.’

‘Cooking for clients in London, Geneva or California is great, don’t get me wrong, but there’s something special about cooking for people closer to home. I still have that sense of pride when I pull on the uniform and think I’m going to make someone happy today. It might only be Tory or the kids but I’m lucky, this is what I love to do and I just happen to be quite good at it.’

chefpaulcollins.co.uk

For details of Paul’s door-to-door home deliveries or to discuss a private booking, please email: paul@chefpaulcollins.co.uk