Heidi spent many years flitting between higher education and lower level culinary work, eventually realizing her desire to become a pastry chef. She could never seem to keep herself away from food and beverage, starting as a waitress, then going on to dishwasher and eventually progressing to chef. Heidi completed the intense patisserie diploma at Le Cordon Bleu on Marylebone Lane in London under three highly skilled and passionate chefs, Chef Alain Jacques (The Lanesborough), Chef John Powers (Claridges) and Chef Christophe Bidault (The Ritz).  After this she was lucky enough to be taken on by Executive Chef Mark Sergeant as a pastry chef at ‘Gordon Ramsay at Claridges’ in London. This training taught her first class organizational skills as well as some amazing pastry experience. She also spent some time at Sir Terence Conran’s award winning ‘Plateau’ in the London Docklands, working under Chef Tim Tolley previously of Jean Georges ‘Vong’.
 


Heidi has had an interesting time working in the Tropics at a leading luxury resort in the Seychelles and most recently at ‘Biras Creek Resort’ (Relais and Chateaux) in the Caribbean where she has been for the past four years. Working pastry in the Tropics is tricky when you don’t have air conditioning and when produce orders are brought in weekly or even every three months as was the case in the Seychelles. During her time in the Tropics she has been lucky enough to work with unusual ingredients and learn new desserts, such as ‘pandan cake’ from Thai chefs in the Seychelles which is delicious and has a very unusual but pleasant aroma. It’s interesting to see how the same dish can be prepared in different countries for example comparing the traditional British rice pudding to the South Indian version, Kheer, which is made with basmati rice, saffron, cardamoms, raisins and almonds and tastes wonderful.



Heidi love working with desserts. You cannot go wrong with a dessert, it is the most anticipated part of a meal. When Heidi meets a guest who enthuses over something she has made it is such a deep feeling of satisfaction, and she looks forward to doing the same this December.