‘Au revoir et bonne chance’ Stephane Delourme

Rick and Jill have raised a glass of their Vin De Bourgogne as they bid farewell to Group Chef Stephane Delourme ahead of launching his own gastronomic adventure.

Stephane has worked with us as Head Chef and Group Chef for 25 years, but now he is hanging up his Stein apron before he travels the world doing pop ups, private dining and much more.

Paying tribute to Stephane, Rick said: “Quite apart from Stephane being a brilliant Head Chef at The Seafood Restaurant, I’ve had some tremendously rewarding experiences with him doing private dinner parties, pop ups, food festivals, sporting events and charity events. The reality has been I’ve never had to worry about any detail at any of these, Steph has always had them covered, whether it be ordering ingredients, organising staff and cooking the dishes exactly as I wanted them. He’s always been a totally safe pair of hands. 

“The other reason Stephane has been so valuable, however, is that he’s an immensely engaging character who gets on with everyone, whether it be the management at somewhere like the Hurlingham Club or Ascot or very successful individuals who booked me for a phenomenally expensive charity prize to go and cook at their house.

“Stephane is just as at home in Downing Street as he is in the kitchen of The Seafood Restaurant, but above all I’ve always been somewhat in awe of him because of his impeccable training as a chef in France.  I still regard the way they cook in France as the best.”

Also paying tribute to Stephane is Jill who describes him as ‘a brilliant chef’ and ‘the face of The Seafood Restaurant”.

Jill said: “Stephane really understands food and is a brilliant chef. He has been with us for many years and I never thought the day would come when we would be saying goodbye. We will miss him, but, I hope that he will come back and make an appearance every now and again like Padstow Christmas Festival and our 50th Anniversary celebrations. Stephane was the face of The Seafood Restaurant for so many years.

“I wish him all the luck in the world for his new venture. He knows we will always be there if he needs our help in the future. Stephane is a big part of our family business and always will be.”

Stephane, who hails from Brittany, and who has been inspired throughout his career by chefs such as Anthony Bourdain, Nieves Barragan, Gary Rhodes, Michel and Albert Roux, Raymond Blanc, Rick Stein, Martin Webb, Joël Robuchon, Gabriel Biscay and Auguste Escoffier, says it’s his job as a chef to make people feel special, to care for people and by giving people a big hug and putting smiles on their faces through his culinary creations.

Speaking about his departure from The Seafood Restaurant, Stephane said: “Leading kitchen teams at Stein’s has been remarkable for me. I will of course miss mentoring these wonderful people and I will always admire Rick for his promotion of seafood, and his promotion of Cornwall to the world, but my time has come to say ‘au revoir et bonne chance’.

“Food is life. It’s about making memories with people we love and I know that beautiful food makes people smile so I want to create memories which will stay with people forever.”

Stephane, whose passion is seafood, has travelled the world already on solo trips doing pop ups, team takeovers and private dining and recently was in Norway for a pop up with Rick Stein at Holmen Lofoten Kitchen, a seasonal restaurant which was set up on the edge of the world set above the Arctic Circle.

He has also hosted pop ups in places such as The Hurlingham Club, Fulham, The Goring Hotel beside Buckingham Palace, Jude Kereama’s restaurant, Kota, Sam’s Riverside in London, Cape Cornwall Golf Club, The Angel Restaurant in Dartmouth, the Eden Project and the FCC Angkor Siem Reap Cambodia, to name a few.

“Experiences like Holmen Lofoten Kitchen, where Rick and I cooked a feast on the final night of our trip for the team there, using the very best of ingredients from the land and the sea, will never be forgotten. There is so much more for me to explore and I look forward to going to new places, revisiting old favourites while bringing my cooking closer to people, using world class ingredients, produced by the most wonderful people.”

For more information visit stephanedelourme.com