Masterchefs united at Cullens restaurant in Stone

Staffordshire masterchef 2013 Richard Cullen has recruited the county’s young masterchef of 2013 to be his sous chef at his new restaurant in Stone.

Jack Harries was crowned Staffordshire’s young chef of the year at the Taste of Staffordshire competition earlier this year at the same event that Richard claimed the senior title.

Now the hottest chefs in Staffordshire are being united at Cullens, which opens for business with a sold-out house on Friday 25th October.

The restaurant in Radford Street had a launch party on Thursday night, and Jack was delighted to be part of Richard’s new enterprise. He said: “I’ve known Richard for a while now and he’s been a real inspiration. He got in touch to offer me the job at Cullens at the Stone Food and Drink Festival, where we both demonstrated this year. I’ll start properly at Cullens in a couple of weeks’ time and I can’t wait to get going.”

Richard is opening the restaurant with wife Kara and the couple were proud to show it off on the special launch night. Its opening follows a frantic couple of months for the couple and their friends and family as the former Oriental Garden site has been totally transformed into a stylish yet homely restaurant.

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Kara said: “It’s been really hard work but we’ve got there, thanks to the help of lots of people. We can’t wait to get going now. In a way, it’s been like preparing for our wedding day again. All the colours in the restaurant are the same, we’ve had so many cards and best wishes and it feels like a big celebration. We just can’t wait to welcome people to Cullens now.”

As well as the restaurant on the ground floor, there’s an upstairs function room (with Richard offering a service to fit individual needs) and an area that will soon be a bar, Nev’s Bar, named after the couple’s dog Nev!

Richard spent much of the launch night in the kitchen, preparing a wonderful selection of canapes. And, amongst all the preparations front of house, he’s been in the kitchen at the crack of dawn all this week preparing stocks and more ready for opening night. He said: “I’m delighted to have Jack as my sous chef – I’m really looking forward to working with him. After all the weeks and months of preparation, I can’t wait to get going now.”

You can have a look at the menus for Cullens, and find contact details for booking your table, on their website HERE