Local Chef joins Armathwaite Hall Hotel and Spa
Armathwaite Hall, the Lake District’s luxury hotel & spa set within 400 acres of private woodland and deer park on the edge of Bassenthwaite Lake near Keswick, has appointed Kendal born Brad Jasper as their new Head Chef to expand their menu’s offerings.
Armathwaite Hall is known for its high-quality dishes that draw inspiration from both traditional British fayre and classical French cuisine, refined to reflect todays lighter, healthier lifestyle.
Now the hotel is keen to increase their food menu and provide guests with more choices to enjoy during their stay, and the Kendal born Brad Jasper with his Michelin star restaurant experience is keen to meet and exceed their expectations. Since taking over as Head Chef on April 1st, he has significantly increased ‘choice’ on the fine dining menu.
“Armathwaite Hall has a wonderful selection of flavoursome, well thought-out dishes that cater to different tastes which is why it works so well. Following Head Chef, Kevin Dowling’s illustrious 30-year career, I look forward to creating more and more new offerings that can maintain this balance and continue to make our guests happy.”
The 27-year-old from Kendal has been a chef for 10 years, working at a variety of AA Rosette restaurants.
After starting his career at Strawberry Bank, The Masons Arms, he went on to work at Gilpin Lodge in Windermere as a Chef De Partie, followed by four years at the Sun Inn’s award-winning Carter restaurant as a Sous Chef. He also completed notable internships at The Fat Duck, Heston Blumenthal’s three Michelin-star restaurant and at the Black Swan in Oldstead under Michelin-star chef Tommy Banks.
“This has been a fantastic opportunity for me to take the next step in my career and Armathwaite Hall Hotel and Spa is a great fit for me as the hotel has a style of food that I really enjoy producing.”
“I think they wanted somebody who could introduce new dishes, but also someone who could mentor and train junior members of the kitchen. Creating new dishes is important, but only if you can ensure that junior chefs are learning at the same time. It is important to constantly invest in your team and allow them to develop with the menu in order to maintain a high-quality standard at all times.”
“My ethos is firmly on delivering flavour and keeping ingredients and combinations of ingredients very simple. I don’t consider myself too technical, and I find that the simplest techniques extract the best flavour out of the ingredient.”
Simon Steele, General Manager of Armathwaite Hall, says Brad, with his youth and innovation, is a perfect fit for the hotel.
“Brad arrived and did a food tasting for us and his dishes were absolutely in line with the brand. It’s really exciting for us to have Brad joining Armathwaite Hall Hotel and Spa because he has the same vision for the restaurant as we do – we both want to produce a menu that continues to satisfy our guests tastes whilst also exciting their palettes over longer stays.”