Bryn Williams, senior sous chef, London's Orrery restaurant

09 March 2006
Bryn Williams, senior sous chef, London's Orrery restaurant

Bryn Williams, 28, is senior sous chef at the Orrery restaurant, where he has worked since 2002.

His passion for food started when he was 10 years old. Inspired by a visit to a local bakery where he attended a breadmaking lesson, he admits he was "hooked on cooking" from then on, and got a job there two years later.

He attended Llandrillo College in North Wales from 1993 and obtained an NVQ level 3 in food preparation and cooking. He was a high achiever at college, being awarded Student of the Year NVQ level 3 in 1998.

He believes his experiences at college gave him a head start in the world of work, as the college funded four weeks' work experience at a Michelin-starred restaurant in the Netherlands. While there, 12-hour days in the kitchen at the Restaurant Château Neercame gave him a good grounding.

He also worked as commis chef at the Brookhouse Mill Tavern, Clwyd, for two years before being appointed chef de partie at Café Nicoise, Clwyd, in 1994.

After finishing college, Williams took up the role of chef de partie at Restaurant Marco Pierre White in London in 1997.

Moving to Le Gavroche in 1999, he started as chef de partie, and after 16 months of hard graft was promoted to sous chef. He began working at the Orrery in London in 2002, and was awarded second place at the nationwide Roux Scholarship last year.

Having been in the industry for 12 years, Williams concedes that he enjoys the learning aspect of being a chef. "At MPW I learnt all about taste. At Le Gavroche it was more about methodology, and I started to understand why things were cooked in a certain way," he says. "But you have to know what the head chef wants and you also have to prove yourself, your loyalty, and your dedication if you want to climb up the ladder."

In the future, Williams hopes to open his own restaurant on his home turf in North Wales.

He is a vocal supporter of Welsh cuisine, and will represent Wales in the forthcoming Great British Menus series.

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