Will Bee on leading Rosina for Adam Byatt

Will Bee admitted he was “completely blown away” when Adam Byatt personally emailed asking him to become his new head chef.

At that point, Will had been in London for less than a year. He had moved to the capital after time at Paul Ainsworth at No6 in Padstow, quickly taking on the interim head chef role at Lita in Marylebone when the opportunity arose shortly after he joined.

Then came Rosina, the new Italian-inspired neighbourhood restaurant on Wandsworth Common by renowned restaurateur Adam Byatt, of Michelin-starred Trinity, which opened last month.

For Will, the opportunity was a major career step.

Will told The Staff Canteen: “Chef Byatt came to Lita and had dinner with us. I hadn’t even spoken to him. I was in the middle of service, so I didn’t have the opportunity to.

“Then just after Christmas, I got a personal email from him reaching out to me, which I was completely blown away by.

“He told me that he was opening a new restaurant and he wanted me to be the head chef.

“It came as a big surprise for me, but it was like everything had been leading up to it without me realising it.

“It was a real, real honour to receive that from him.”

Adam Byatt’s personal approach

The personal nature of Adam’s approach was not lost on Will.

While it would have been easy for the opportunity to come through a recruiter or a member of Adam’s team, the fact Adam contacted him directly gave the move a different weight.

Will said: “Every time you’re looking for a job, it’s been me wanting to go and work for people. For someone to actually ask for me, it’s quite a special moment for me.”

He added: “To actually have a personal message from him, that means a lot.

“That’s what drew me to him as well. He very much has the same approach as Paul Ainsworth, and just wants to nurture and build people up and make people better for the industry as well.

“He’s definitely a chef’s chef. There’s no style over substance, it’s real cooking and it’s exactly what I want to be a part of and learn more from him as much as I can as we go through this.”

That relationship is central to how Will views his role at Rosina. He is not trying to detach the restaurant from Adam’s original idea, but to understand it properly, translate it through the kitchen and gradually put his own personality into the food.

Will said: “This restaurant is so special to him and his family.

“For me, I have to take that in my stride. I think a lot of people who would be taken on as head chef would want to have full control over absolutely everything.

“But for me, it started as chef’s idea. He’s had a vision for it and I first need to get on board with that and understand where he wants to take it, so that I can translate it into my cooking and to the rest of the team as well.”

Do you have a KP that deserves recognition? Nominate them here for Winterhalter KP of the Year 2026

Opening Rosina with 6,000 bookings

Given Adam's background and portfolio, it is perhaps not a surprise that Rosina arrived with significant expectation.

But the scale of that initial interest was staggering, with thousands of bookings taken before any real details were shared about what was on offer.

Will said: “We had 6,000 bookings before anyone saw a menu, saw the pricing, absolutely everything.

“That is very daunting in itself, but also, I’m so happy to be in a busy restaurant as well.

“Everybody that comes in is just so excited to be here.

“Everyone’s been saying, this is exactly what Wandsworth needed.

“It’s just the energy that we have from all the staff is reciprocated by all the guests as well.

“They just feel very special to be a part of it. Likewise, as we do, to actually be a part of something that is part of the community as well.”

Will Bee’s route to Rosina

Will’s route into cooking came as a natural progression.

Growing up, good food was always present, through home-cooked meals and after-school cooking classes.

His first paid work came aged 13, when he started doing hog roasts at a local wedding venue after his father told him he would need to earn money if he wanted to buy expensive clothes and shoes.

Not Right Now

Contribute

His first proper kitchen job came at The Castle Inn, a local pub in the next village, where a young head chef encouraged him to take cooking seriously.

Will said: “The chef there really took me under his wing.

“That was the kickstart to it all, where it was like, I can make something of this.

“I was actually spending more time at the restaurant than I was at school, much to my mother’s despair. But that’s what gave me real purpose to everything.”

He continued to work in kitchens during his studies, before taking in some culinary experience with a stint in South Africa.

After returning to the UK, he moved to Cornwall to join Paul Ainsworth at No6, starting as a prep chef and working his way up before leaving as junior sous chef.

He later moved home to Derbyshire for a period, finding agency work unfulfilling, before relocating to London. A string of trials left him lacking the spark he was looking for, until he arrived at Lita in Marylebone.

Will said: “I instantly fell in love with it.

“It was somewhere where I would like to go and eat, so that meant that I could have some real passion when I was cooking the food as well.”

Adam Byatt with daughter Rosie Byatt

Byatt family connection in the rosina kitchen

Rosina is also a personal restaurant for Adam, not least because it is named after his daughter, Rosie.

That personal connection now extends into the kitchen. Rosie, who has just turned 18, has been working on the pastry section at the restaurant.

For Will, that has added another dimension to the responsibility of leading the kitchen.

He said: “To have Rosie in the kitchen as well, that’s really special.

“She’s worked quite a bit in Trinity, so she knows her way around the kitchen.

“It’s really nice for me to have that opportunity to teach and nurture someone like that, who is Adam’s blood as well.

“To be named after the restaurant, that’s a proud moment for her and for him.”

Traditional Italian cooking in a modern restaurant

Rosina is Adam’s first professional venture into Italian cooking, and is also a first for Will.

But with Italian sous chef and “right-hand man” Saverio Scarcella by his side, and his own experiences with Italy, Will feels well placed to deliver.

Will said: “I’ve never completely focused on Italian cooking, but I’ve experienced lots of different cuisines and styles of cooking.

“There has been an element of Italian cooking throughout my career and I’ve been on holiday to Italy quite a few times as well.

“So it’s not something new to me, but to completely focus on it is a new element.

“I do really enjoy Italian cooking, so it’s quite a natural thing to do.”

Regarding the food offering more specifically, Will explained: “It’s been really enjoyable to cook this style of food because it’s just taking a really, really premium, good quality ingredient that is believed in from the supplier from start to finish.

“Essentially, they did all the hard work for us. We just have to bring something else onto the plate, plate it up nicely and send it out.

“For this, it’s just taking very classical ideas and bringing it into a modern environment, essentially, and stripping it back.”

Asked which dishes best expressed his own style, Will pointed first to the fried sardines.

“They’re just a perfect snack,” he said.

“I think that explains what we’re doing. We’re trying to have that real traditional Italian cooking, but at the same time making it accessible and a bit more fun and approachable.”

Other key dishes include the pastas, antipasti, tuna crudo, veal sirloin, salt-baked bream and veal tongue.

Food at Rosina

The ambition for Rosina

Discussing his "easy" decision to hire Will, Adam described him as a "blindingly talented cook", adding how he would "realise his dreams" at Rosina.

Asked for his ambitions, Will said: “My dream throughout my career has constantly changed.

“But at the end of the day, just having fulfilment and being happy with it as well is my sole aim.

“As long as I am fulfilled, happy with it, I’m content.

“The accolade side of things, I think that’s a bonus wherever you are.

“It’s not something that we’re going for because I think that ends up making us deviate from the direction of where we actually want to go.”

He added: “We’re going for our own style, our own type of hospitality, and just making sure that everybody enjoys it at the same time.

“We like to go to the tables as well and introduce ourselves, talk through some of the dishes, talk through the menu, and just make everyone feel welcome.”

He added: “One thing I like to say with the chefs that come into the kitchen is that if we can make you a better person, as well as a better chef, or if we can make your experience here better than the previous restaurant you were at, then that’s job done for us.”