Meet our Head Chef, Roman Rybakowski
I have been part of the team at Reigate Beaumont since 2005. 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 am particularly proud to be the winner of the 2016 Barchester Chef of the Year Award in the South East Division. Outside of work, I am a keen cyclist and also enjoy going to the cinema and cooking, of course.
Food and Nutrition at Reigate Beaumont
We often receive compliments from residents, friends, families and visitors to the home on our outstanding and delicious food. Our Head Chef won the Divisional Chef of the Year Award at this years Barchester Care Awards. All our food is produced using fresh ingredients by our catering team, which reflects the individual tastes and dietary needs of people living at Reigate Beaumont. The residents enjoy freshly baked cakes and biscuits on a daily basis. We also love making extra special cakes for birthdays and other treats for special occasions. We host barbecues for residents and families on our terrace and cook up a storm in the summer heat. To get a flavour of the menu we serve here, please see the examples below.
Dietary requirements
For residents that have difficulties in swallowing we modify the menu of the day so that is it a soft, palatable dish. To support our chefs in producing these dishes, our hospitality and Chef Academy organises theory and practical workshops. Working in partnership with Nutricia, our practical workshops involve all chefs and deputy managers learning about dysphagia and producing these modified menus. The chefs work with the chef trainer to prepare fork mashable and thick puree meals to the correct consistency, taste and presentation. The deputy managers can then ensure all modified menus served are presented correctly for our residents.
Attracting top chefs
Our chefs are recruited on the basis of an interview with the regional hospitality support team and the manager for the home. Selection also involves a practical element where potential cooks are asked to cook for and meet a panel of people living in the home. Chefs take their job extremely seriously and our annual 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'.
