Chris Eden, Driftwood, Cornwall

Chris Eden has been head chef at The Driftwood restaurant since he started in 2006. Chris’s passion for cooking began at the early age of 11 when he cooked his first lasagne for his mother. He also used to make Victoria sponge cake with his grandmother. Chris inherited his love of food from his family; his younger brother was a butcher and his mum was a creative chef. At 17 he studied catering at the St Austell College and then joined Pennypots as a commis chef, working under Kevin Viner. He moved to London to work as a commis at The Lanesborough, under Paul Gayler, graduating to senior chef de partie at The Orrery and The Square respectively. He returned home and joined the restaurant at The Driftwood Hotel, Cornwall. Chris perfected his technique working under Phil Howard, a chef known for his exacting standards and classical approach. The traces of his influence are clear in Chris’s dishes for example his luxurious beef dish, supreme sirloin and frugal feather blade. His outstanding food won The Driftwood its first Michelin star in 2012.

Give us an outline of your role here at Driftwood. How long you've been here?

I've been here for five years my role is obviously day to day running of everything that happens in the kitchen, menu development, general business, everything really that goes into making up the kitchen"

How many boys in the team?

We have a team of five so it's me and four other boys.

And how difficult is it recruiting, I mean you're in an idyllic location here but in the nicest possible way you're in the middle of nowhere so, how difficult is it to get people here?

It's a real nightmare, I mean you really do have to find the people that really want to be a chef and commit and dedicate themselves to this job. We are in the middle of nowhere, there isn't a town near us for miles and when the boys go home it really is they've gone home.

So once you've got them here you've got to hang on to them have you?

Yes, you've got to hang on to them and obviously look after them, nurture them, give them as much time as you can but the menu does evolve and we always play around and so there is a lot of general interest for everybody always lots to see here lots going on, it's a small kitchen as well which I love. So everybody can see and everybody can understand what's going on with the team.

So you've been here five years how have you and your food style evolved in that period of time?

I think I've become a lot more comfortable with what I do and I understand what I want to do and I think there's been a merge between myself, the understanding of how I've cooked and the technical side of what I trained in London and obviously, the owners' perception of the restaurant as well is very important because I don't want to alienate them from eating in there. So we have feedback and we have discussions on dishes and perhaps Paul and Chrissy both love a dish, which is always a good sign. I think the restaurant is actually at its peak where it's a merge of my concept, the owners' understanding of what they want from the restaurant. It's not pompous, it's not in your face, it's just a really nice, enjoyable evening as far as we're concerned.

You say though you think the restaurant's at a peak is that reflected in the fact, and congratulations you've got a star and I just want to say for the record we did contact you before you got the star it wasn't the fact that you'd got the one"

No this is the first time I've ever heard from you!!!!! (Laughs)

But do you think a combination of all those things has been reflected in the fact you have got the star?

I mean it was a real shock and a real"

You didn't even know, did you?

No, I didn't know, I didn't have a clue. I had a phone call"¦

You were probably the only chef that wasn't looking at the Guide on the internet.

I'm really happy right now. I'm really happy with what we do here at Driftwood. We source really well. We use the best ingredients that we can get in the kitchen, and I'm really happy with the food that we cook and I think that as a journey for the last five years we've actually, as a kitchen at a point now where I'm happy. I understand what the limitations of the kitchen area, and the restaurant also, what we can and can't achieve and the most important thing is now that we cook to a consistent standard. I'm not trying to do things that I can't achieve day in day out. We cook to a consistent standard now and I'm really proud of that.

I think, I've said this before on the record, I'm very fortunate I go round and meet a lot of chefs and the more I hear chefs who are not cooking for guides and are confident and comfortable with what they do, the more the accolades seem to come their way.

I think a few years ago I was really driven by it, I thought the most important thing was for us to have the rosettes or a star, but then you understand it's not, and when you speak to the guests; what's important is to have plates come back into the kitchen empty and see clean plates, you don't want to see food pushed to one side, or to the edge of the plate. You want the customer to say that they had a lovely time, that they had a fantastic evening that we really enjoyed ourselves and you leave that lasting impression upon them. We are not trying to alienate people from the restaurant with the food they don't understand what they're eating. We're in a clifftop restaurant