Sat Bains
Sat Bains
In an unassuming industrial estate just outside Nottingham, Sat Bains cooks incredible tasting menus to a two-Michelin-starred level. With a focus on championing Midlands produce and making the most of cutting-edge culinary techniques, a meal at his eponymous restaurant is something you’ll remember for the rest of your life.
It was the appeal of studying in a class full of girls that convinced Sat Bains to take up a catering course. Born in 1971 and raised in Derby, cooking was never much of an interest during his childhood, although his mother was a keen home cook and always prepared homely vegetarian Sikh dishes. It wasn’t until he passed his catering course and started working in restaurants that Sat realised he wanted to be a chef.
After being inspired by Nottingham chef Mick ‘Murphy’ Walton and reading Marco Pierre White’s White Heat, Sat set out to become the best chef he could be. He moved to Oxford to help open Raymond Blanc’s Le Petit Blanc and worked in London’s L’Escargot for a few months, before returning to the Midlands to work in Nottingham. It was during this time that he entered himself into the Roux Scholarship and, despite being a bit of an underdog, took home the trophy in 1999. This allowed him to complete a stage at Le Jardin des Sens, a restaurant in the south of France with three Michelin stars.
Sat returned to Nottingham with a whole new understanding of cooking and was appointed head chef of the Hotel des Clos, just outside the city centre. In 2002, he was made partner and the name changed to Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms. A year later it won a Michelin star – the first starred restaurant in Nottingham.
The next few years saw Sat’s profile skyrocket, with critics praising his iconic menus as some of the best in the UK. In 2011 Restaurant Sat Bains received a second Michelin star, something which many said was long overdue. Now a true destination restaurant, diners travel from all over the world to eat there.
Today, Sat runs the restaurant with his wife Amanda and works closely with head chef John Freeman in the kitchen. The small farmhouse has been extended over the years to include a state-of-the-art kitchen garden, a chef’s table-style dining room known as Nucleus and eight rooms for diners looking to stay the night. Eliminating waste and the environment is something close to Sat’s heart – he works with the University of Nottingham on ecological projects involving food and has even installed a closed loop composting system at the restaurant, which means almost all food waste can be turned into compost for the garden.
The food itself is a masterclass in research and flavour combinations; when creating a new dish, Sat spends a long time looking into the balance of ingredients and how they interact with one another. The tasting menus aren’t just a succession of dishes – each course is carefully considered in the context of what comes before and after it, turning the meal into a sort of journey between plates. Midlands produce is always celebrated, with plenty of game from nearby estates and ingredients from local farmers on offer. Because Nottingham isn’t near the coast Sat tends to stay away from using fish – ‘If I can’t get it as fresh as Nathan Outlaw can, then why should I include it on the menu?’
Outside of the kitchen, Sat loves to shoot during game season and spends a lot of time nurturing the next generation of chefs. His overall ambition is to own one of the best restaurants in the world – and if you ask the majority of his diners, they’ll tell you he’s already there.
Three things you should know
Sat competed in the 2007 series of Great British Menu, winning a place at the final banquet for his starter of egg, ham and peas, which won a perfect ten score from each of the three judges.
Sat was named Chef’s Chef of the Year 2009 by Restaurant Magazine, Good Food Guide Chef of the Year in 2011 and has an honorary degree from the University of Derby.
Sat’s cookbook, Too Many Chiefs Only One Indian, was released in September 2012 but is still regarded as one of the most beautifully designed and influential cookbooks from a British chef.
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