Food at Bryn Ivor Lodge Care Home
It is essential that the people we support have access to healthy food at all times, so our fantastic catering team are always on hand to prepare tasty and nutritious cuisine. Our food is always cooked to highest standard and with residents’ preferences always in mind. The importance of a balanced diet is never forgotten here, so we offer a varied menu that has something for everyone to enjoy, which you can sample below:
Rhys Hone
My names is Rhys and I have been part of the team at Bryn Ivor Lodge since 2019. As Head Chef, my role is to produce a fresh, nutritious and well-balanced menu suited to the needs of each resident. I ensure that the team and I maintain the highest standards and provide a first class dining experience. I enjoy chatting to residents and their visitors and ensuring that they enjoy the food I have prepared. I started out here as a Kitchen Assistant, moving up to Second Chef and finally to Head Chef, learning and developing as I went. I am very proud of what I have achieved at Barchester so far. Outside of work, I am all about music. I am a gigging musician, singer-songwriter, producer and record my own original music. Of course I enjoy cooking and my passion is in Asian Cuisine.
Dietary requirements
For residents who have difficulties swallowing, we modify the menu of the day so that the dishes are more palatable for them. To support our chefs in producing these dishes, our hospitality team and our Chef Academy organise theory and practical workshops. The chefs work with the chef trainer to prepare tasty, modified meals safely and according to IDDSI frame work. This encourages residents to eat and enjoy their food. All our chefs have been trained in IDDSI food descriptors.
Attracting top chefs
Our chefs are recruited on the basis of an interview with the regional hospitality support team and the manager of the home. Selection also involves a practical element, where potential chefs are asked to cook for and meet a panel of people living in the home. Chefs take their job extremely seriously and the annual Barchester Chef Competition sees our chefs battle it out in regional heats and then at a national final for the accolade of 'Barchester's Chef of the Year'.