Meet Our Chef

Elliot Johnson-Paul

Corporate Chef

Where the passion began
My inspiration and passion for cooking comes through many avenues, including my grandfather and my mother, as well as celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsay. My background is Anglo-Indian, and food has always been a focal point in mine and my family's life, and the source of my inspiration...

Corporate Chef

Where the passion began

My inspiration and passion for cooking comes through many avenues, including my grandfather and my mother, as well as celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsay. My background is Anglo-Indian, and food has always been a focal point in mine and my family's life, and the source of my inspiration.

A dish that always goes down well with my family is a butter chicken with a vegetable biryani with peshwari naan. I would say my all-time favourite dish has to be my grandad’s pickled pork vindaloo.

Work History
I first entered the industry aged 15 at The Petersham Hotel in Richmond. What started as two weeks of work experience turned into a Saturday and Sunday job! Whilst working there, I was fortunate enough to win the Specialised Chef Scholarship run by the Academy of Culinary Arts and sponsored by Waitrose.

I carried out the training element of my scholarship at Bournemouth and Poole College and then the placement element at Intercontinental Park Lane. The course was world-renowned and was considered to give trainee chefs a ticket into any kitchen in the world. After three years plying my trade at the hotel and honing my skills at college, I graduated with a distinction in both cookery and pastry. This then led me to work at Claridge’s Hotel.

What is your Style of Cooking?
I would describe my cooking style as modern British, drawing upon flavours from around the world, especially Asia, using classical French techniques.

What are your passions outside of the kitchen?
My other passion is playing golf as a professional. Where time allows, I play golf whenever I can, often hopping over to Spain. I feel this is a completely different environment to a busy kitchen, and a great calming reset button for me. I also enjoy eating out, seeking out new restaurants, and am a bit of a film fanatic too.

Favourite ‘go to’ wolf appliance(s)?
The steam oven paired with the teppanyaki/char broiler range top is the perfect set up for me. The simplicity and flavour of cooking rice and vegetables in the steam oven never ceases to amaze clients I cook for.

One of my ‘go to’ favourite meals when using Wolf is sous vide garlic infused, teriyaki glazed beef, accompanied with steamed rice, wok fired with egg. Sesame tossed broccoli steamed, then stir-fried. The flavours from this dish, cooked on the Range top and in the steam oven is next level.

Where you are now in your career & what the future looks like for you?
When I am not busy hosting our corporate cooking events and demonstrations both in our showrooms and externally, I am running my own luxury events company, JP Dining.

I have now entered the eighth year of business, offering everything from intimate dinners for two to weddings and launch events, as well as larger scale corporate canapé events.

JP Dining covers the entirety of the UK as well as the South of France, Spain and the Alps. In truth, my team are happy to travel to wherever our services are needed.

Fabulous opportunities have arisen as a result of my skillset and passion. I’ve cooked for the likes of David Cameron, Theresa May, and footballer John Terry.

Olivia Burt

Chef & Home Economist

Where the passion began
I have loved food for as long as I can remember, I am still on a continuous journey to learn and develop my cooking every day...

Chef & Home Economist

Where the passion began
I have loved food for as long as I can remember, I am still on a continuous journey to learn and develop my cooking every day.

Work History
After finishing my training at Ballymaloe in Ireland and Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, I began my career working for Joel Robuchon at his 2 Michelin starred L’atelier, before heading back to London to work under Simon Rogan at Claridge’s and then into the main kitchen inside Claridge’s. After 5 years in the hotel, I moved onto Stanley’s Chelsea to head up my own kitchen, Your Inspiration.

What is Your style of cooking?
I would describe my style of cooking as Modern British, taking influence from all of our amazing farmers and growers, working with the seasons and pulling inspiration from traditional dishes.

I am inspired by so many aspects of life when it comes to food, I love the British seasons and the peak season produce, letting menus write themselves with the months of the year, plating dishes that are art too, and learning new methods and techniques with new ingredients as I constantly push forward in my career of food.

What are your Passions outside of the kitchen?
That’s a hard one for me as I absolutely love home cooking, It’s a completely different environment cooking a home cooked dish. I love to push my body to the limit in fitness and cycling. I also love pottery and stoneware and would love to make my own collection one day.

Favourite ‘go to’ wolf appliance used?
My go to wolf appliance would have to be the 1524mm Dual Fuel Range Cooker, because bigger is better, as a chef working with appliances all day and night, I absolutely love how it looks in the kitchen to start with, this is a proper showcase piece but in my opinion which is what I would look for in my kitchen. The best feature on this for me are the accurate control you have when using the dual burners, allowing you to cook over gas on extremely low temperatures. This control is amazing for sauces such as hollandaise and bearnaise, making the process easier and not having to rely on extra pieces of equipment like a bain-marie.

Where you are now in your career and what the future looks like for you
I have now been cooking professionally for 10 years and I have been on a long journey through Michelin starred kitchens in that time. I was also lucky enough to be part of the amazing UK tv programme back in 2019 ‘Masterchef’ where I was put to the test under the spotlight, doing what I love the most. Being a finalist was fantastic, I loved every minute.

I am at a point now in my career where I am still learning and developing my own recipes every single day. I know exactly what style I like and am very happy with that. I am not sure you can ever tell what the future will look like but I have a dream of what I would like it to be, just continuing a journey forwards in food, and becoming better every day.