Bar and Wok

I love Chinese food. I love reading about it, watching it being made, cooking it myself and, of course, eating it. I could eat a Chinese every day of the week. During my nine year career in a non-descript London Soho office it was Chinese food that kept me sane. The highlight of the day was my lunch hour, when I would sneak off to a little Chinese restaurant in China Town and sit in quiet satisfaction as I ate freshly roasted duck and char sui on a steaming mound of white fluffy rice or slurp down prawn wontons served with udon noodles and fresh stock.

My side dish was always pak choi, as I knew that our family farm had supplied the restaurant only that week. Eating the pak choi kept me feeling connected with my family 150 miles away in the Vale of Evesham. Home is not where I lay my hat but what goes into my stomach. Sadly when I visited China Town at the beginning of 2009, the old haunt had gone to be replaced with an identkit McChinese aimed at the tourist market.

When I left the rat race in 2005 and came to Cheltenham to open 288 Bar & Wok my simple plan was to build a restaurant where I could eat with my wife, young daughter and friends. That meant no table clothes, no linen, no wine glasses, no fuss!

What was important was the food and that the restaurant was for everyone young or old. My continued aim is to serve delicious and great value food as quickly as our chefs can cook it. I hope that there�s something for everybody�s taste and wallet.