Matt, head chef and co-owner of St. Michaels, explains how Rea King become one of our key members of staff:

“Magda and I both come from a teaching background.I was running the National Star College Bistro in Ullenwood for five years and trained students with additional needs in the kitchen. Now, having our own catering business, we still love to cooperate with the college and invite students to come for work experience.

Rea started at St. Michaels in September 2017.

When she first came, she was very quiet and shy. Slowly, with the right support and help , Rea came out of her shell and found her confidence and developed her skills.

Rea tried different roles around the restaurant, from being in front of the house to helping in the kitchen. She has discovered her main passion, baking. We had a suspicion here, as she’s got a quite sweet tooth:).

Rea is mastering her bread making skills and is baking some wonderful breads for us every day.

This year we offered Rea a full time job and to our biggest delight she has accepted the position. She is absolutely vital to our day to day running of the kitchen.

She is learning the different dishes on our brunch menu and her egg Benedict are better plated than mine, presented with such an attention to detail!

So,next time, when you are at St.Michael’s enjoying a piece of light focaccia or delicious brownie – it’s from Rea with love.