Ashley Palmer-Watts to Launch New Restaurant in Cobham

One of the UK’s most talented chefs will return to the restaurant scene early next year with a unique collection of openings based in the picturesque village of Cobham in Surrey.

In spring 2024, Ashley Palmer-Watts, who shot to prominence during a 20-year career with The Fat Duck Group that saw the Dorset-born chef earn two Michelin stars at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, will launch the first phase of a new culinary destination.

Plans to transform the former site of The Garden Cobham are well underway. The destination will incorporate a 35-seat high-end restaurant with additional seating on a garden terrace, a 52-seat wine bar, a café, and a bakery, all set around a beautiful courtyard. In time, luxury guest accommodation will be added to the offering. Alongside the varied dining options, the outside space is being restored to its former glory, with an extensive kitchen garden, all set within an historic, two-acre landscaped walled garden.

Under the leadership of Palmer-Watts, The Garden Cobham is set to become a new culinary and lifestyle hotspot in Surrey, and will also be available for weddings and private events. Palmer-Watts, who launched Artisan Coffee Co two years ago, will be showcasing the coffee products throughout the business.

Palmer-Watts comments: “I can’t wait to be back in the heart of the industry, drawing on all my experience of opening various restaurants at different levels within The Fat Duck Group. It’s an incredible location, and with food history being of such interest, particularly in recent years, to be able to bring life back into the walled garden and reimagine it with a collection of food experiences is a dream come true for me. I look forward to sharing further details of the project as we near completion of the work.”

About Ashley Palmer-Watts

Ashley Palmer-Watts has had an extraordinary career, including 20 years at The Fat Duck Group, where he became one of their most significant figures. The Dorset-born chef first experienced a taste of restaurant life aged 13, when he started working as a kitchen porter at Le Petit Canard in Maiden Newton, going on to join the restaurant as an apprentice.

After visiting The Fat Duck in early 1999, blown away by his experience, he showered creator Heston Blumenthal with requests to join the team. Ashley eventually started working with the five-strong kitchen brigade at The Fat Duck in August 1999, just after the Bray-based restaurant had been awarded it’s first Michelin star.

By 2002, Ashley was promoted to sous chef and the iconic restaurant was awarded a second Michelin star. The following year, aged just 25, he was named head chef. Fast becoming one of the world’s most influential establishments, it won a third star under his leadership in 2004.

Four years later, Ashley became executive head chef for The Fat Duck Group. He oversaw The Fat Duck, The Hinds Head, The Crown in Bray, and subsequently the development and opening of The Perfectionists’ Café at London Heathrow.

In 2009, Heston offered Ashley the opportunity of opening a restaurant in the London. It was to be based around British culinary history. Ashley then started work on the menu for the opening of Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park. This quickly became a ground-breaking restaurant, weaving together culinary history and modern cuisine. The restaurant was awarded its first Michelin star in 2012, a second in 2013, and was featured in the top ten of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants for seven years.

In 2014, Ashley was instrumental in The Fat Duck’s relocation to Melbourne, where it operated for 6 months, whilst the Bray restaurant was being renovated. The Melbourne space went on to be transformed into the second Dinner by Heston Blumenthal in October 2015. Ashley split his time between London and Melbourne, becoming part of the Melbourne and wider Australian food scene, regularly appearing on MasterChef Australia.

In December 2019, after two decades with The Fat Duck Group, Ashley decided to leave the group to pursue and develop new interests. In 2020, he launched Artisan Coffee Co., speciality coffee created through the eyes of a chef.