Food review: Future's bright for chef Tom

The politest letter of complaint dropped on our mat. We’re reviewing too many boxes, it said. We know, we thought, that’s because the restaurants are closed.

The portions are too small, it said. Our waistlines laughed all the way to the bathroom scales, by way of rebuttal.

These boxes don’t help anyone, it said.

Actually, they do. From the chefs to the kitchen porters, box meals are the only chance our fabulous hospitality industry has of earning a crust and without them many more would now be out of business.

Happily, with the route map in place, we’ll soon be in a position to return to restaurants, where we can mingle with others and – in the case of the politest letter writer ever – order really, really, really, large portions.

And good luck with your bathroom scales.

And so to this week’s box. Tom Shepherd is the former head chef at one Michelin starred Adam’s Restaurant, in Birmingham, which holds a Michelin star.

The Midlands-born, Lichfield-based thirtysomething-year-old has achieved a lot in a short space of time. In 2018 he joined a prestigious list of Acorn Award winners, recognising him among the brightest young talent in the UK hospitality.

As his website says, Shepherd was trained by culinary legends Sat Bains and Michael Wignall.

He made an incredible start to his career after strongly believing his life calling was to do something with food. Working at The Samling, in the Lake District, which gained its first Michelin star while he was working there at the young age of 23, was one of his biggest achievements; one which he then used to secure a job working under Michael Wignall at The Latymer and following that, with Sat Bains as development chef in the Nucleus.

Working with this calibre of chefs and restaurants was what drove Tom to start his own pop-up restaurant – The Development Kitchen and catch the eye of Adam Stokes, who wanted Tom to evolve his restaurant, Adam’s.

Tom accepted the role of head chef in August 2017.

And then the time came for Tom to branch out alone. It wasn’t a decision he came to quickly or lightly, though it had always been a goal to open his own restaurant.

He planned to do that in late 2020, creating a space on a top floor, in Bore Street Lichfield.

Pandemics, eh? Just when you’ve made plans… His intention is to become Lichfield’s first Michelin-starred restaurateur.

That, however, can wait until Covid is under control. For now, it’s all about Dine At Home, in which Tom prepares a weekly changing seasonal three-course menu, prepped and pre-cooked ready for guests to reheat, plate and enjoy in the comfort and safety of their own homes.

Included in boxes are delicious three courses, bread and a final treat, all packaged with labels and instructions for you to follow. For a short video of how to cook your box you can also visit Tom’s YouTube channel.

Good, innit?

Contactless collection is available from Thyme Kitchen, Curborough Farm, Watery Lane, Lichfield, WS13 8ES – available Thursday to Sunday along with a free local delivery service within a five-mile radius of Lichfield.

Deliveries to the wider area are charged at £5, available Friday to Sunday.

Nationwide delivery is also available for a flat fee of £24, Friday and Saturday deliveries only.

Our menu was delivered to the door, just like the advert promised. Neatly packaged and with no issues, it was a box of delights.

We began with Cotswold crunch mini loaves with marmite butter. Light bread and umami-rich spread made for delicious eating, after the loaves had been warmed for five minutes at 180C.

While some chefs go all guns blazing, delivering a restaurant experience to the door, Shepherd plays it safe with flavours that are familiar and combinations that are straight forward.

His starter, therefore, was a nicely composed crispy ham hock and grain mustard fritter with French mustard mayonnaise and a salad of potato, parsley and shallot.

Nicely dressed and making for pleasant eating, it was eminently pleasant.

No doubt when Shepherd is up and running in his new restaurant, he’ll be offering brighter and more vivid flavours.

For now, however, it was a pleasingly simple dish that was easy to assemble and provided a mix of style and substance.

The main was an improvement.

A confit Creedy Carver duck leg was served with a duck skin and hazelnut crumble, duck fat-roasted celeriac wedges, a delicious and expertly seasoned celeriac purée, braised chicory in a bitter orange caramel and a spiced blood orange ketchup.

A spiced duck sauce completed the dish.

There’s a real skill in finding ingredients that travel well, that are easy for home cooks to assemble and that deliver on flavour.

Shepherd more than met the brief. His instructions were easy to follow, the flavours worked well with the bitterness of the chicory and orange being balanced by the chilli-heat of the duck sauce and the sweetness of a spiced blood orange ketchup.

It was, in some ways, an Asian twist on a classic French combo. And there was nothing wrong with that.

Dessert was pretty damn good.

A treacle tart was exceptional. Good pastry and a moist, not-too-sweet filling was well balanced while a rhubarb compote was fabulous.

Sharp and studded with small flecks of vanilla, it was a hero component in a pretty good box.

The rhubarb and vanilla ice cream was an ambitious addition. It reached us frozen and was thick and creamy, though trying to send ice cream through the post without running into issues might be something to reassess.

There were a few pieces of light chocolate fudge to finish and Shepherd’s box had been an impressive affair.

I suspect it’s several rungs below the standards he’s used to cooking and that he’ll be bringing to his Lichfield restaurant but, for now, it fills the gap and does the job.