Meet the Chefs

Hello and welcome to the Cotford Hotel. I’m Chris Morgan, the Head Chef of L’amuse-Bouche Restaurant and I run the hotel with my wife Barbara and supported in the kitchen by Craig and a small team of talented young chefs. I’ve developed my own French-style cuisine using only fresh, locally sourced and organic produce and now work with a team of artistic and flambouyant chefs in the restaurant to create menus that keep our guests coming back for more.

Since moving to L’amuse-Bouche we’ve picked up runner-up for Worcestershire Chef and Restaurant of the Year, Michelin recommendation since 2008, two AA rosettes for culinary excellence since 2008 and the runner-up award for Chef of the Year 2012 for Worcestershire and Warwickshire combined.

More recently we have won The Worcestershire Restaurant of the Year for 2016 and 2017 thus allowing us the represent the county in the England Finals for 2017 and 2018.
Sadly we are now excluded from entering  for a while due to our strength , thus allowing other fine restaurants to come forward and enjoy the accolade. However, this will not deter us from striving to reach greater goals.
Although I have a wealth of experience within the industry, Craig Englefield, who has worked side-by-side with me since 2012 has the most amazing depth of artistic talent, having enjoyed previously a multi Michelin trained background in some of the countries leading eateries. The forward thinking and direction of our restaurant is very much of Craig’s thinking and the theatre that our guests experience on the plates is a culmination at traditional cooking at its best coupled with modern ideas and skills brought to the fore.

I’ve been working as a Chef for 40 years now, and I’ve been lucky enough to travel the world doing something I love. Originally from a farming family near Oxford, I was inspired by my step-mother who had a wonderful talent for cooking and presenting food interestingly. I studied catering at college in Oxford and then became a Commis Chef, working with Michael Quinn MBE (of The Ritz fame) at the Bear at Woodstock.

I then moved to the South coast and at the age of 22, was given the position of Head Chef at the 60 bedroom Mercury hotel in Seaford. Soon after that I was elected Master Craftsman of the Craft Guild of Chefs (Master-Chef), the youngest recipient of the award, and offered membership of the Association Culinaire Française.

Within a year I was offered a position with the Hilton group as a Head Chef and was promoted twice in two years before opening The Hilton at Bracknell, which I used as a base over the following years in my role as Regional Executive Head Chef for Hilton Hotels. Since then I’ve worked at the Rembrandt hotel in Knightsbridge and the 5* International hotel in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, before spending 15 years on the fringes of the Cotswolds running my own restaurant with rooms and finally settling here in 2007 on the slopes of the beautiful and picturesque Malvern Hills.

Book now: reservations@cotfordhotel.co.uk
(Room bookings are subject to payment in full if cancelled within 48 hours of arrival)