1 Michelin star chefs: Brad Cacela, The Coach
Brad Cacela is head chef at The Coach, Tom Kerridge's one-Michelin-starred pub on West Street in Marlow, Buckinghamshire.
The Coach is owned by Tom Kerridge and opened in December 2014 as the more relaxed sister to The Hand & Flowers, his two-Michelin-starred flagship a short walk along the same street.
It won its own Michelin star in October 2017 and has held it in every edition of the guide since.
South African chef Brad took over the kitchen in May 2025, succeeding Sarah Hayward, who moved up the road to become head chef at The Hand & Flowers.
The star was reconfirmed in February 2026, the first guide since Brad took charge.
Early career with the Tom Kerridge Group
By the time of his promotion, Brad had spent more than eight years with the Tom Kerridge Group.
His most recent role was senior sous chef at The Hand & Flowers, the only pub in the world to hold two Michelin stars.
There he worked under head chef Tom De Keyser, who had himself been part of the team that opened The Coach in 2014.
Tom De Keyser told The Staff Canteen in January 2025 that he would never forget the day Brad, then his sous chef, served Tom Kerridge a duck pie the kitchen had been working on, and was told it was "like Millwall away of flavour".
The head chef role at The Coach is Brad's first.
when did brad cacela join the coach?
Brad's appointment was announced at the end of May 2025, as part of a reshuffle across the group's senior kitchen teams.
Tom De Keyser left The Hand & Flowers to open The Chalk Freehouse in Chelsea, Sarah moved from The Coach to take over at The Hand & Flowers, and Brad stepped into the head chef role she left behind.
Sarah had led The Coach since September 2021, retaining its star each year and winning the Michelin Young Chef Award in 2023.
Announcing his appointment, the Tom Kerridge Group said Brad had "always been an incredible talent within the team".
Brad said he was "very excited for this opportunity from Tom, grateful for this to be my first head chef role and excited for the new adventure."
Brad Cacela's cooking style
The Coach serves a seasonal small plates menu of traditional British dishes given a contemporary twist, brought to the table as and when they are ready.
Sharing is encouraged, and the rotisserie sits at the heart of the kitchen.
Brad's autumn menu runs from a red prawn and crab Scotch egg with sweet chilli shell sauce to coffee-crusted venison loin with duck liver and quince and vanilla purée.
The rotisserie currently turns out jerk-spiced monkfish with sweetcorn and chilli salsa and bourbon barbecue sauce, alongside "peri-peri" quail with toasted garlic sausage.
Long-standing dishes remain too, including the mushroom "risotto" Claude Bosi and a beef suet sticky toffee pudding.
The setting is deliberately pubby, with an L-shaped pewter bar, small screens showing the sport and bar stools facing straight onto the open kitchen and the pass.
The Coach says Brad is keen to bring new dishes to the menu while leading the kitchen team around him.
Michelin star at The Coach
The Coach picked up a Bib Gourmand within its first year, before winning a Michelin star in the Michelin Guide Great Britain & Ireland 2018, announced in October 2017.
That star came with Nick Beardshaw leading the kitchen, as Tom De Keyser stepped up to head chef that summer. Nick now holds a Michelin star at Starling Bistro in Esher.
Tom De Keyser told The Staff Canteen: "We won the star as a team with Nick leading it."
The star was retained throughout Tom De Keyser's time in charge and then under Sarah, from the 2022 guide onwards.
It predates Brad, but the 2026 guide, revealed at the Michelin Guide Great Britain & Ireland ceremony in Dublin on Monday, February 9, 2026, was the first time it was reconfirmed with him at the helm.
Michelin's inspectors describe a cosy, compact pub with a relaxed feel, a set-price lunch menu and a broad à la carte at dinner, and rate the cooking as "of the highest order".
They also note that the pub marked its tenth year in 2025.
Beyond The Coach
Two months into the job, Brad launched the third Toastie Takeover series at The Wigmore, the gastropub at The Langham in London overseen by Michel Roux Jr.
His toastie, served from Friday, August 1, 2025, combined slow-cooked beef shin, fennel and chilli sausage, Gorgonzola and mozzarella, with £1 from each sale going to The Burnt Chef Project.
The Coach also features at number 29 in the 2026 Estrella Damm Top 50 Gastropubs.
With a star that has now held for nine editions of the guide, Brad's task is less about winning recognition than putting his own stamp on The Coach while keeping it what it has always been: a pub first.
Other Michelin Star Chefs
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