12 Chefs of Christmas, Day 10 - Tom Kitchin
As part of The Staff Canteen’s 12 Chefs of Christmas, we’re unwrapping how chefs across the UK bring festive flavour and cheer to their kitchens.
Christmas at The Bonnie Badger
Tom Kitchin oversees several sites, but only one of them opens for Christmas Day.
He said: “We actually open for Christmas. We have a small hotel called The Bonnie Badger which is open for Christmas Day. We have guests staying, and my wife does the most incredible Christmas decorations - very Scandi-inspired, really beautiful.”
His main restaurant and pub are closed for Christmas, but December still brings festive touches.
He said: “We just do festive specials - your usual turkey dishes and partridge, Christmas puddings, these kind of things.”
Team celebrations before the break
He said: “We celebrate with a big Christmas lunch with the team. But when we close the main restaurant on the last day, we have to make sure the restaurant is all packed away. It’s a bit of an anti-climax because we have so much work to do. So we try to celebrate a little bit beforehand.”
A Swedish-British home Christmas
With four children and a Swedish wife, Christmas is a two-day event.
He said: “My wife is Swedish, so she actually celebrates on the 24th. We do lots of traditional Swedish Christmas food. We have friends over on Christmas Eve. And then Christmas Day, we do the traditional British Christmas.”
A highlight built around giving back
Tom’s biggest event of the year is a major charity dinner he’s hosting with young people from a local youth centre he supports.
He said: “We’re hosting a big charity dinner here at the restaurant on Sunday the 7th of December. We’ve been supporting the youth centre for 10 years. The young people apply to be part of the dinner, they come and be interviewed, they do work experience, and then they’re part of the big dinner as well.”
He said: “These kids don’t come from so much, so it’s a really important stepping stone into growing confidence, getting something on their CV, and seeing what they can do.”
Quick-Fire Festive Questions
Sprouts - yes or no?
“Yes. The sprouts need to be braised - you braise them in the turkey jus and you get this incredible sprout gravy.”
What dish or ingredient defines the season for you?
“Gravlax - very Swedish cured salmon served with a honey mustard sauce. That’s Christmas.”
One ingredient you couldn’t run Christmas without?
“There would be a revolt in our house if we didn’t have pigs in blankets with the poor boys.”
Favourite festive drink?
“A wee mulled wine is good.”
Dream Christmas dinner guest?
“I would like to invite Jürgen Klopp.”
Best or worst Christmas kitchen story?
“When I was a young chef at La Tante Claire with Pierre Koffmann, I had the ingenious idea of coming home from London to Scotland with some live snails to cook on Christmas Day. They escaped. I forgot about them and they escaped everywhere. It was an absolute disaster. My sister still swears at me now.”
Three words that sum up Christmas for you?
“Family, warm fires, candles - and probably mess as well at the end.”
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