insideKENT Magazine Issue 41 - August 2015 | Page 60

FOOD+DRINK
THE UNIQUE

CHEQUERS KITCHEN,

Restaurant and Cookery School
Establishing an award-winning cookery school is one thing, but taking the concept
and launching a successful restaurant alongside it takes a certain something special
– and Chequers Kitchen in Deal has that 'something' in spades. BY GEMMA DUNN

Situated off the beaten track, but still a stone's
throw from the Kentish coast, Chequers Kitchen
is both distinct in its set up and unique in its
results.
Run by chef, Pieter Van Zyl, and social
entrepreneur, Stephanie Hayman, its winning
formula is a product of its passionate team,
commitment to the culinary field, and unreserved
contribution to the local community. From wideranging cookery classes and demo-and-dine
nights, to team-building events, activities for
schools, bespoke group classes and more, it
has one mission and that is to teach people to
cook, eat well, and develop a good relationship
with food.
Off the back of that very same ethos,
Chequers Kitchen is a social enterprise; a
Community Interest Company with a social duty
to teach local people – from Dover, Deal and
Sandwich – to cook with fresh ingredients, on a
tight budget, so they can also access a healthy
diet. Subsidised by grant funders, these invaluable
Keen2Cook classes focus on those who want
to turn their lives around and learn new skills
where they otherwise wouldn't have the means.
As a result of its support, Chequers Kitchen
deservedly took the title of Best Community
Focussed Cookery School at Looking to Cook's
2014 awards. A sign of great things to come!
And while a cookery class would – I'll admit
it – come in rather handy, on this occasion I was
visiting the restaurant to enjoy a Friday lunchtime
sitting. Integrated into one, the kitchen and
restaurant blends stainless steel furnishings with
pendant lamps and wooden flooring for a relaxed,
coastal décor.

Seated in view of the kitchen island and with my
nap-preventing limit of one glass of wine in hand,
the restaurant's talented chef, Luke JefferyGreen, prepared our first course from the day's
set menu. Allowing for an interactive experience,
the open-plan interior enables diners to watch
as much or as little of the cooking as they please
prior to service.
Kicking off proceedings was, to my delight,
watermelon gazpacho – an ideal summer-fruit
variant to the classic cold soup. Accompanied
by warm crostini and a sumac-sprinkled
watercress dressing, the light starter was not
only inspiring in flavour, but also in the sense that
I wanted to recreate it at home – immediately.
To follow, our sharing-board mains
comprised of locally caught