The Swan Hotel, Wells

Due to the recent weather conditions I was only able to make photographs on Saturday evening in The Swan Hotel, Wells, Somerset due to the other events being cancelled or postponed.

I have previously visited the hotel back in January 2013 when I was working towards one of my university projects entitled 'people at work'. These are some of the better photographs from that visit...

I arrived at 7.30pm to a very busy and hot kitchen as the first tables had just sat down for dinner, so their starters were already being prepared and cooked. "Service" was being yelled every few minutes and I had to work around the six people that were working; Head Chef Leigh, Chef Luigi, Chef Jake, two waitresses and a kitchen porter. On my previous visit  I had only photographed Chef Luigi and Chef Lilly. It is always challenging to work in a busy restricted kitchen, but as a photographer you have to be able to think fast on your feet, and keep an eye on what activities are happening around you.

There were two menus available for the guests to choose from that evening. A dinner menu specific for the 9th February, or an a la carte menu, so I frequently saw two of my favourite dishes, Hecks cider steamed River Teigh mussels, and overnight bread from the a la carte menu and whole lemon sole, parsley butter from the special menu being made and sent out to the guests.

I love being able to watch food being prepared and made, especially when the chefs take as much care as they do at The Swan. All three chefs Leigh, Luigi and Jake have a very careful hand when it comes to decorating and displaying the food that is on the plate. When I spoke to Jake about the decoration of the food in the right hand photograph, he made it sound so casual. The presentation is second nature to him. I thought that I would share some of my favourite images that I made last night with you...

Food in right image: Braised beef wellington, mixed peppercorn cream from the dinner menu for Saturday 9th February 2013.

Food in left image: Red onion tart tartin, quantock blue custard from the a la carte menu.

If you haven't visited The Swan Hotel then I would definitely recommend it. You can find some more information here: http://www.swanhotelwells.co.uk/. Everyone at the hotel is very warm and welcoming, and you can tell that a lot of care and attention goes into the little details. A warm welcome awaits you.

Thank you to Emma Wheatley for organising my visit, and for Chef Leigh, Luigi and Jake for letting me make photographs in the kitchen once more.