About Village Gourmet

I’ve worked in catering and hospitality most of my life and I absolutely believe you can’t have one without the other, or at least, not to any great effect. So in 2010 I ‘put my money where my mouth is’, leaving behind our ski chalet in the beautiful French Alps to set up a small restaurant in the coastal village of Bembridge on the Isle of Wight; just me in the kitchen and one front of house but with a focus on providing a quality dining experience and with an appetising and original menu, properly prepared. No smoke and mirrors, just good flavoursome food, presented with care.

I moved on from Lockslane Bistro in 2018, working for a few short years as a private chef  before coronavirus took hold and lockdown put an end to entertaining.

Village Gourmet came into being during the Coronavirus lockdown of 2020, turning my favourite bistro dishes into a home delivery enterprise servicing the Isle of Wight. But when lockdown finally lifted (and I lost the benefit of the free labour I had enjoyed as a result!), I took the decision to pursue an idea that I had been nurturing for many years. It was now or never. And the idea, quite simply, was to package into hampers all those little things that make a meal complete; the condiments and preserves that go hand in glove with our best loved dishes; things that we may only eat once a year, simple and traditional, and that are at their best when handmade and worthy of gifting because of it.