Sarah Rodi met The Bel and the Dragon’s Group Head Chef, Ronnie Kimbugwe, and asked him what it’s like to work for Gordon Ramsey, cook for Kylie and give food the ‘quirk factor’
 

 

‘It was all a big mistake, me being a chef,’ grins Ronnie Kimbugwe, Head Chef at The Bel and The Dragon, Cookham. ‘I always meant to be a doctor. Growing up, I spent all my free time gaining work experience in hospitals.’

   I look at him, bemused. So where did it all go so wrong… or so right?

   ‘At my English home in Devon, I used to help my mum in the kitchen. Twice a week, she would have 15 people round for dinner, so I’d take some of the pressure off her by cooking a course or two. When I was in Africa on a gap year, Mum suggested I did a cookery course, and something just clicked. I went through clearing and five minutes later, I was on a flight back to England to start a course in Culinary Arts Management at University College Birmingham with just £20 to my name,’ he says.

  

 

 

 

From then on, Ronnie was a man on a mission. He continues: ‘I was in
a hurry to achieve. After the course, I moved to be the baby chef at the London Hilton. I did anything I was asked, learning the ropes, getting as much exposure as I could. Then I landed a job at The Ivy, where there were 24 chefs. It was noisy, hot and intense, but I knew right there
and then: “I want to do this s***.”

   ‘Later on, I got my foot in the door at Michelin-starred restaurant Claridges and even though I was at the bottom of the pile, I thought I could fit in there. They were crazy. Working alongside Gordon Ramsey
in the kitchen four days a week was epic. He taught me the core of my cooking knowledge.’

   Ronnie worked there for three and a half years, then in April 2008, he helped set up the Maze grill in Grosvenor Square, also part of the Gordon Ramsey Group.

   But restaurant openings, being on the road and part of Ramsey’s production programmes, such as The F word, took its toll. ‘I dropped to
9st, and considering I’m 6ft 6in, that was pretty bad,’ he says. ‘I was stressed and had no appetite after working in the kitchen all day, so
I took a break. I worked for a friend’s catering company, lived life for
a bit and got healthy again.’

   When Ronnie went back to work he helped to develop a new chain of Gordon Ramsay Gastro pubs. He was at The Narrow in the Limehouse area before becoming Senior Sous Chef for Claridges. ‘It was terrifying,’ he says. ‘You know when you get a new outfit and it’s too tight a fit, but then it grows with you and becomes comfortable? That’s how I felt there. It was a beast of a restaurant and at first I was scared, but I soon began to feel the part. Steve Allen was the Head Chef there and he inspired me. He taught me s*** loads. I managed 56 people in the world-class restaurant and I was only 28 years old.’

   That’s quite an achievement. But Ronnie felt he needed a work/life balance and had often longed to run an English restaurant in the country. So when entrepreneur Joel Cadbury spoke to him about a new chain of restaurants, temptation got the better of him.

  The Bel and the Dragon in Cookham was rundown and unloved. ‘It was losing a lot of money and Joel wanted me to turn it around,’ Ronnie says. ‘“I’ll fill it,” I promised him. “Trust me.”’

   ‘Heading up my own kitchen, I wanted to offer customers a great
dining location and a culinary experience. In almost every food place in Cookham, you could get a burger or fish and chips, and I thought: “f*** it,” I’m going to offer a fantastic steak instead, with cuts from Jack O'Shea. And instead of bog-standard fish and chips, we’ll serve half a lobster. I wanted to offer the quirk factor, so that people would go away and talk about the food they’ve eaten, and come back.’

   I’ve tried the lobster and it’s certainly worth returning for!

 

 

   ‘I get inspiration by eating a lot!’ Ronnie laughs. ‘Also my creations vary depending on my mood. My food has a modern twist and an element of surprise. But I champion the ingredient and use locally sourced produce.
I buy the best produce I can, and cook it to the best of my ability.’

   I tell him I cook to the best of my ability, but my food doesn’t taste like his. In fact, my three-year-old often refuses to eat my home-cooked meals as they’ve got ‘green bits’ in them. I ask for his advice on this. ‘If you want your kids to eat vegetables, you may have to hide or disguise them,’ he says. ‘Put them in something. We do a sustainable fish pie here and there’s spring onions and sorrel in it, but kids lap it up without noticing.’

   Or maybe they’re just having too good a time drawing on the tables
to care – another of Ronnie’s good ideas. During the refurbishment, he ordered outdoor tables with blackboards on the top for kids to draw on with chalk. Genius.

   I think Ronnie must have always eaten his veg… ‘Remember how your mother said if you wanted curly hair you had to eat your greens? Well, I have curly hair, so yes, I did!’ he tells me. ‘Although even now I wonder what is the point of a turnip or swede. You won’t find them on my menu.’

   So where does Ronnie like to eat out in Cookham, apart from in his own restaurant? He smirks. ‘A small place in Bray and an Eastern-European place in Cookham. I’ll let you figure out which they are!

   ‘I respect all the other local chefs but we don’t hang out together. In my spare time, I like to go to the ballet or see a play, or just take a walk along the Thames. I don’t go out on the lash. I’m not a lads’ lad.’

   Having said that, in the next breath he tells me about how he flirted with pint-sized pop-princess Kylie after cooking for her. ‘She smacked my bottom once! I guess I shouldn’t have told her Australians can’t cook,’ he says, grinning.

   So what can we expect to see from Ronnie next? ‘I never like to talk about the future in case it doesn’t happen,’ he says. ‘I just want to continue to serve good food to more people. I’m driven by giving people a good time.’

   It sounds like he'll be cooking for the people in the local area for a long time to come... ‘Yes, I love living in Cookham – it has so much character and a real community spirit,' he answers me. 'Cookham is home,’ Ronnie says. I quite agree.

   01628 521263; www.belandthedragon.co.uk

 

 

 

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