Chris Harrod had been cooking at a high level for nearly twenty years before he burst into the public sphere in the 2018 series of Great British Menu. Alongside short-sleeved, swashbuckling chefs Tom Brown, Ellis Barrie and James Cochran, the nation warmed to Chris’ long-sleeves and gentle demeanour. In what is generally quite a boisterous work environment, Chris is a bit of an outlier – reserved and modest – but his food speaks for itself. Anyone who makes the journey to eat at The Whitebrook leaves knowing they’ve just eaten dishes cooked by one of the most talented chefs in the UK.

Growing up in leafy Worcestershire, Chris’ life has always been about food, more or less. ‘I wanted to be a chef from the age of about seven, but no one really knows why,’ he laughs. ‘I used to grow vegetables in the garden – I was the only one into that. My parents would have dinner parties and I would cook the dinner!’ Chris grew up an avid fan of TV chefs like Keith Floyd and Raymond Blanc – he would watch their shows and soak up all their enthusiasm like a sponge. Not only did this further his love for cooking, it was also the start of his quest to work alongside Raymond in the kitchen at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons.

‘I’ve always been a very determined person,’ says Chris. ‘If I want to do something, I’ll keep going until I achieve it. Even as a kid I wanted to work for Raymond, so I wrote him lots of letters asking for work. I must have written at least ten letters, and got a ‘no’ back each time!’ Undeterred, Chris searched for another route; his tutors at Birmingham College of Food advised that some time in a five-star hotel would open doors, so he headed to the Lanesborough on Hyde Park Corner, where chef Paul Gayler was cooking an innovative vegetarian menu.

Still though, he was writing letters to Le Manoir frequently, trying to get a foot in the hotel’s prestigious doors. Whilst he was at the Lanesborough, Chris went to Le Manoir for dinner on a Friday evening and asked again for a job, this time in person. ‘They asked me to start on the Monday!’ he says. ‘I had to turn it down – I was still working at the Lanesborough – but as soon as I walked back into the kitchen, Paul already knew I was leaving.’

There’s always some trepidation in meeting – or indeed working for – your heroes, but Le Manoir turned out to be everything Chris had ever hoped, and then some. ‘Up until that point, I wanted to be a chef but it hadn’t ignited me,’ he explains. ‘When I got to Le Manoir, it changed everything. Le Manoir is all about getting the maximum flavour from every ingredient and learning the techniques to do that. I think that’s something that has been lost a little with modern cookery. It’s not about the technique, it’s about the ingredient first and foremost – the technique just enhances it.'

Over the course of five years at the illustrious hotel, Chris absorbed every bit of information he could from Raymond and the team. The hallmarks of that Oxfordshire education are clear to see at The Whitebrook today, from the small kitchen garden overlooking the terrace where Chris grows woodland herbs and vegetables, to the practices in the kitchen. ‘One of the many things I learned from Raymond is that doing something slightly differently when you’re preparing a dish can have a huge effect on the flavour at the end,’ he says. ‘That’s something I tell my team here all the time.’

The journey from Le Manoir to The Whitebrook was not smooth sailing, but Chris’ unflappable determination continued to push through, despite numerous setbacks. On holiday in New York after leaving Le Manoir, Chris went for dinner with some friends at Restaurant Daniel and came away with a job offer from Daniel Boulud himself. ‘I was all set to go back to New York and start working on pastry with Daniel in September,’ he explains, ‘but that September was 9/11, and my visa got scrapped.’

Instead, Chris took a role alongside Alan Murchison at L’Ortolan in Reading, winning a Michelin star for the young restaurant, before getting his first head chef break at Colette’s in Watford. In four years at the hotel he made Colette’s a seriously acclaimed dining destination, earning three AA rosettes and six out of ten in the Good Food Guide. The next step was undoubtedly to have his own restaurant, but setbacks seemed to lurk around every corner – one site caught fire just as Chris was ready to proceed with the project, another pulled out, then the recession hit hard. ‘I had another site all sorted, but the banks didn’t want to know,’ he explains. ‘The only way I could do it was to try and find backers – I was knocking on doors, ringing up people, writing letters. I must have sent out over a thousand letters – I got the Sunday Times Rich List and contacted everyone in the Buckinghamshire area!

‘Eventually I had ten potential investors,’ he continues. ‘I got them around a table and cooked a meal for them, and they all agreed to invest. It was intense!’ Again the finish line loomed, but the sites never worked out. It had been seven years since Chris’ last head chef role at Colette’s, and prospective employers wrote him off as being too old. ‘I tried to get another head chef role and was told I had been out of the game for too long,’ he shrugs. ‘They said I was past it.’ Things, by all accounts, were looking pretty grim.