The young chef hails from Lincolnshire, where he worked under the Relais & Châteaux aegis at Hambleton Hall for seven years.
Stokes received the call for his first job as Head Chef at Glenapp in 2008 aged only 27, replacing fellow Great British Chef Matt Weedon on his departure.
At Glenapp he locally sourced game, shellfish - like the lobster and crab fished nearby, and fruit picked from Glenapp Castle’s own greenhouses, complementing his mains with luxurious concoctions that included savoury hits of umami from truffles, ceps and flavour-packed sauces, in the finest tradition of British country cuisine.
He has since moved on to the less rural surroundings of Birmingham, where his two year pop up 'adam's' is bringing his extraordinary food to a wider audience - the long term plan is to buy a bigger property in Birmingham.
Though his food is undeniably British, Stokes' food takes you on a culinary journey. Dishes are rooted in tradition but offer modern twists to classic flavour pairings.
Stokes says of his cooking style, 'I like to take traditional marriages of flavours and reinvent them. I try to alert all five senses of flavour with each dish and concentrate on flavours as well as textures. I'm not in it to baffle or confuse diners but to excite them.'
The Scotsman calls his cooking ‘superbly nuanced… he’s worth Michelin’s much sought-after bauble’.