1 Michelin Star Chefs: Shaun Hill, chef patron, The Walnut Tree

Shaun Hill is the chef patron for the one Michelin starred The Walnut Tree in Wales.

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With a career spanning over 50 years, Shaun Hill has been fortunate enough to head up the kitchen at numerous Michelin-starred restaurants all across the UK.

Biography

There is no doubt that Shaun Hill is one of Britain’s most enduringly successful chefs having started his career working for Robert Carrier in 1966. The veteran is now based in Wales at the Walnut Tree Inn, Llanddewi Skirrid, Abergavenny. He has worked in some of the capital’s most high profile restaurants such as Blakes in South Kensington and The Capital Hotel in Knightsbridge.

Shaun spent over a decade at the Merchant House in Ludlow, Shropshire. The Michelin star restaurant turned the small Shropshire town into a gastronomic hot spot. The 24-seat restaurant was hailed as the 14th best in the world and the Times noted that he was a “truly great chef”. His time there is still fondly remembered in Ludlow. Shaun took over in 2008 at the Walnut Tree Inn.

History

Franco and Ann Tarushio first opened the Walnut Tree Inn in 1963 serving dishes styled on their beloved Marche region of Italy combined with a comprehensive selection of local favourites. The venture was highly successful and it became one of the most idiosyncratic eating establishments in the UK. However, after the Tarushio’s sold up in 2001, the Walnut Tree Inn fell on hard times and even featured on Gordon Ramsay’s infamous ‘Kitchen Nightmares’. However, when Shaun took the reins in 2008, he successfully restored it to its former glory, winning a Michelin star in the process.

The Guardian’s Matthew Norman said of Shaun’s Walnut Tree Inn in 2008; “it sings of a blissful and fecund union between sheer talent and lack of pretension.”

Food style and other ventures

Shaun was a key player in the ‘modern British food movement’ in the 1980’s that fused local, seasonal produce with global gastronomic influences.

Just as Shaun disdains over-elaboration on the plate, the inn's bar and two dining rooms convey elegant restraint with carefully chosen art and simply laid wooden tables.

Throughout his career, he's forged a unique style with an array of timeless dishes such as scallops with lentil and coriander sauce that are as distinctive and delicious now as the day he created them. Shaun is as also an accomplished a food writer; 'How to Cook Better' and 'Cooking at The Merchant House' are modern classics.

Videos with Shaun Hill