Meet the head chef at Hever Castle Golf Club

March 21 2019 | Golf

 

Matt Mcloughlin is the head chef at Hever Castle Golf Club.

He has five siblings and hails from Birkenhead on Merseyside where the catering college was at the end of his road.

Matt has travelled the world working as a chef before coming to Hever Castle Golf Club.

He has lived in Australia twice, working on the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the 2003 Rugby World Cup.

The father of two boys has also run a pub and worked at Kingswood Golf Club before starting as chef at Hever Castle Golf Club in January 2015.

The chef team at the golf club consists of 3 chefs and a kitchen porter and they are responsible for cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner.

As a dad one of the best things about working as a chef at Hever Castle Golf Club is the flexibility: “I start at 7am. The early starts are good because the kids are up early, I get to be ‘daddy day care’ when my wife, who is an air hostess is away flying. Some nights you can finish at 10pm if there is a function on but usually it is 5pm. I have one weekend off a month.”

One of the main challenges of the role is dealing with a big group of golfers coming in early or late, but Matt says: “I am not Gordon Ramsey, I don’t believe in shouting or screaming – respect that’s how I operate.”

And Matt’s speciality? “I love cooking fish but I am allergic, that’s my kryptonite.”

Like any chef he also admits: “I love eating anything that someone else has cooked.”

Matt has devised a new menu for the Golf Club to coincide with the opening of the new Wellbeing Centre and the Waterside restaurant. Matt’s favourite thing on the menu is the sweet potato, spinach and sesame seed cakes with sweet and sour tomatoes.