Students from Stratford-upon-Avon College recently tasted ‘life at the top’ when working alongside Jamie Oliver’s Executive Chef and his second in command.

Students from Professional Catering Studies, National Diploma Hospitality Management and the Level 3 Supervisory and Advanced Culinary Diploma courses recently came together to prepare a meal and raise money for leukaemia and lymphoma research.   They were guided by Andrew Parkinson, Executive Chef, and Mark Caines, second in command at Fifteen, Jamie Oliver’s London restaurant. 

Alan Deegan, Hospitality Specialist and organiser of the event, said “This is a great opportunity for our students to network and get to know some of the top people in the catering industry. There was a tremendous ‘buzz’ throughout the day and under Andrew’s direction the students prepared a variety of food including fresh pasta, gnocchi and octopus.”

Andrew Parkinson was also accompanied by James Workman and Nathan Lewitt, all three being former students of the College. 

Fifteen, named after the first cohort of 15 young people who joined the London Chef Apprenticeship in 2002, has four restaurants worldwide in Amsterdam, Cornwall, London and Melbourne. Their purpose is two-fold: to offer young people the experience of working in the restaurant business and for customers to enjoy fantastic food and knowledgeable customer service. 

Guests from as far afield as Suffolk sat down to a sumptuous four-course meal of Goats cheese and balsamic onion tart; Risotto of octopus, tomato, anchovy, white wine, garlic and capers; Slow roasted shoulder of lamb with cannellini beans and Swiss chard and for dessert Citrus and Mascarpone slice with candied fruit. The wines served included Pinot Grigio Rosé, Pinot Grigio Della Venezie Villa Borghetti, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Ancora and Prosecco Rosé Don Cecco.

The evening was a double success. First, £600 was raised for Leukaemia and Lymphoma research and £400 for Chefs for Heroes. Secondly, Charlie Mather, a Professional Cookery student at the college, was introduced to Andrew Parkinson which resulted in Charlie being offered some work experience at Fifteen.  

For more information please contact Marketing on 01789 266245 or email marketing@stratford.ac.uk|.