David Rickett

My love for cooking only started 4 years ago when I tried a celeriac puree during my first ever visit to a ‘fine dining’ restaurant. I didn’t even know what a celeriac was, never mind how to cook it! From that moment on, I was on a personal mission to learn more about food. When eating out I’d always order something I’d never tried before in a quest to understand more about new and unusual flavour combinations. Then, immediately after a thought-provoking meal out, I’d head home to try and recreate the dishes I’d just eaten!

12 months down the line, and once I became more confident, I started creating my own dishes…this is when the creativity really kicked in! I used my artistic background which I had developed whilst studying Fine Art at Leeds University to create beautiful looking (and tasty!) plates of food. Having worked in Banking for 8 years, expressing very little creativity, I’d finally found my new ‘Art’ in cooking! I’d lie awake at night creating new dishes in my head, writing each one down in a notepad I kept by the side of my bed! I’d often make the same dish 6/7 times in a month in my quest for ‘perfection’, in the hope that one day this dish would appear on the menu of my very own restaurant.

This passion for cooking continued and having experienced MasterChef and reached the final I’ve recently started doing Private Dining and Pop-Up events. From cooking at home to then suddenly cooking in a professional environment has been a huge step up, but one that I’m relishing! My food is predominantly fine dining and I love making my dishes as pretty as possible, like I say, cooking is my new ‘Art’! And to make dishes look as picture perfect as possible I like to use a lot of micro herbs, rare leaves and edible flowers, which I often source from Nurtured in Norfolk. The herbs and flowers by Nurtured are always so fresh, vibrant and colourful which means all my dishes can be presented beautifully!

 

To connect with David Rickett and see more of his work, be sure to follow him on Instagram, @davidjrickett