Interview with Jon Appleby
Our Team took a trip out to Helmsley to discuss all things Festival with Jon Appleby, the Head Chef at the Feversham Arms & Verbena Spa.
We were blown away with his journey as a self- taught chef and thought we would share his stories with you!
We can’t wait to welcome him back to the festival in 2024!
After leaving college in Knaresborough, I started working in pubs and catering and then fell into my first cheffing job. John Downrer, the head chef of the Angel Hotel offered me a position and trained me up. From there I received 2 rosettes early on in my career, I worked there for 6 years before moving back to the North East.
I then moved to the Blue Lion at East Whitton which I worked at for 5 years and really pushed myself to do the best I can before coming to the Feversham Arms, Helmsley.
At college I studied Physics, Maths and Sports Science, and from working in pubs I knew I enjoyed cooking and I wanted to pursue that.
No, I am a completely self taught chef! John Downrer taught me everything I know during my apprenticeship. I’m a big advocate for apprenticeships. I recommend learning in a hotel or restaurant, where you get assessed weekly by a college tutor or an assessment board, that’s the best day to do it.
John taught me all the classic chef skills. That is what people are missing now, as they don’t want to start with the basic soups, sauces and stocks. They want to dive straight into the fine dining but it doesn’t work like that. You need a good background and a good base. A good chef is priceless, learn off a good chef, that’s the best thing you can do.
I love butchery. I’m very passionate about using everything you can, such as the meat, bones, loin, trim and cheeks. One of the current dishes we’ve got at the Feversham Arms, the Venison dish, we make sure that nothing goes to waste. I think you owe it to the animal, to not waste anything.
The junior guys in the kitchen then get a chance to butcher properly and learn all the skills. I love doing everything myself, even prepping my own veg. I think this is important because chefs are a dying breed.
I always look at the menu to see if it is balanced. If there are five main courses, I look at having two fish, two meat and normally one vegetarian. The next step is speaking to suppliers, to find out what foods are back in season and what is available. I also like to consider texture variations and flavour matching. We want people to be excited about what they have ordered. We also consider classic flavours, local farms and North Yorkshire is definitely the best place to be!
When I got the job at the Blue Lion, that was a big opportunity. But having the pressure at that job really helped to give me drive and purpose. I was there for 5 years and what a time!
I wanted to move closer to home if I’m being honest, due to family.
I’ve been here for over 2 years, there’s always something to do, it’s a good working environment, I love being here. There’s always something new that happens here, always something!
I enjoy listening to people and I like teaching people, that’s why I did some work at Middlesbrough college because I like educating people. I enjoy people’s feedback too.
This year looks good, we have a few ideas at the Feversham, menu wise, the terrace and the pool. We want to make a good thing out of this year. We’re looking into afternoon teas, small plates and we want to aim for a 3rd rosette.
