Mark Dodson worked at the three Michelin-starred Waterside Inn with the Rouxs for eighteen years. After three years as executive chef at Cliveden House, he and his wife Sarah moved to Devon and set up The Masons Arms.
Mark Dodson’s culinary career begun on in the galley on a North Sea ferry, after a year he went to Colchester Catering College. Before heading up Michel Roux’s Waterside Inn in Bray for twelve years the chef previously worked at InterContinental (now Radisson) on Portman Square, London, the Old Court House hotel, Jersey and then the Michelin-starred Le Talbooth restaurant in Dedham, Essex.
Mark spent eighteen years working with Michel Roux at his restaurant, Waterside Inn, Bray, twelve of which were spent as head chef. Mark is said to have asked Roux for a job at the Waterside Inn after dining there and worked his way up from
commis chef to head chef. Mark moved away from Bray in 2005 spending three years as executive chef at Cliveden House before moving on to set up The Masons Arms in Devon with wife Sarah. Six months later, he won a Michelin star in the Michelin Guide UK.
Mark Dodson
Food style
Mark’s approach to food is to bring Michelin level technique to bear on local ingredients. Pork, beef, game and dairy all feature in his menus alongside locally grown fresh vegetables. In essence, Mark brings comfort food and fine dining together in a beautifully elegant and delicious combination.
Mark’s dream was to combine the taste of the traditional dishes he was brought up on, with the sophistication and eloquence of modern fine dining. With the relaxed gastro-pub style setting of the Masons Arms he has so far succeeded.
Critically acclaimed, the Masons Arms has done exceptionally well. The Guardian said: “It’s the sort of place that 20 years ago you'd have only encountered abroad and which would have made you complain about how we don't have anything like it back home.”
Roast partridge with red
cabbage and cranberries
Accolades
Aside from achieving a star in the Michelin Guide UK, The Masons Arms also reached the top 30 of the Gastro pub awards in the Pub Chef magazine and was listed as one of the top 100 places to eat in Restaurant Magazine’s top 100 places to eat in the UK.
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