Paul Boorman named head chef at new Essex hotel

A soon-to-open country house hotel has appointed award-winning Paul Boorman as its executive head chef. Wivenhoe House in Colchester, Essex will be a luxury hotel and is expected to open in summer 2012. Boorman, a Master Chef of Great Britain and former Essex Chef of the Year, has gained a reputation as an innovative and forward-thinking executive head chef in the region. With more than 20 years' experience Paul has won Colchester Chef of the Year several years running, and was head chef at the Juniper Restaurant at Clarice House in Colchester when it was named Essex Restaurant of the Year 2009. He was executive head chef at the Lifehouse spa at Thorpe-le-Soken in 2010, and joined MUSA, a new contemporary restaurant in Colchester, in 2011. MUSA and Wivenhoe House both form part of University of Essex Commercial Services and Paul will continue to provide advice to MUSA’s chef team. At Wivenhoe House, home of the Edge Hotel School, he will be responsible for the fine-dining Signatures restaurant in the eighteenth century historic house and the spacious contemporary brasserie in the new garden wing. The hotel has undergone a £10 million refurbishment so residents and restaurant customers alike will experience a fusion of traditional and contemporary detail. General manager of Wivenhoe House, Stephen Mannock, said: “Paul’s passion for locally sourced seasonal food will come through strongly on our menus, making Wivenhoe House a leading food destination for the area. His expertise will also help to inspire the student practitioners of the Edge Hotel School to become the future leaders of the food and hotel industry.” Boorman said: “The combination of old and new at Wivenhoe House will be reflected in my menus, where traditional recipes with a contemporary twist will combine with new dishes to encourage both customers and our culinary management students to think differently about food.” The Edge Hotel School will be the UK’s first hotel school based entirely in a fully operational hotel open to all, providing degree-level academic study combined with vocational learning. Its first intake of students will join in June and have the rare opportunity of opening a hotel and restaurant.