Shaun Rankin has flown the flag for Jersey as a culinary destination for some years now. Since cutting ties with Ormer in Jersey, he’ll be focusing exclusively on his Mayfair outpost, and that can only be good for the people of London.
Shaun Rankin has become synonymous with food in Jersey, but the County Durham chef did a fair bit of travelling before he settled down in the Channel Islands. After honing his craft in Chicago and Western Australia, Shaun returned to the UK and earned a Michelin star at Bohemia in St. Helier, before opening his own restaurant – Ormer – in 2013. Four months later, Shaun received another Michelin star, confirming his status as one of the UKs very best chefs.
Though he no longer heads up the kitchen at Ormer Jersey, Shaun is still a common presence at Ormer Mayfair, and his ethos shines through equally brightly in the food. Shaun has built a reputation on taking local, sustainably-sourced produce and bringing the best out of it with impressive technique and an eye for detail. That produce might be slightly further away now than it used to be, but Ormer Mayfair gets the freshest Jersey produce in daily, allowing Shaun to work the same magic here as he’s been working for the last decade.
The menu is full of classic flavour combinations, but with exciting technical touches and smart variations of texture and temperature across the board. Seafood remains a clear feature of Shaun’s cooking, with dishes like Jersey crab with Granny Smith apple, lime, vanilla and peanut dressing, salt-baked sea bass with Parma ham and turbot with pine nut crust, cauliflower, cockles and sea vegetables all standing out. There’s Dover sole, roast duck, venison, rabbit, scallops and tuna sashimi too – this is an opulent menu, and the service is unashamedly fine-dining to match.
Vegetarians need not worry – Ormer Mayfair has separate vegetarian and vegan menus to cater for those with different diets, and there’s an eight-course tasting menu on offer for anyone feeling adventurous, complete with three levels of wine flights.
Flemings Mayfair, 7-12 Half Moon St, London , W1J 7BH
Growing up in County Durham, Shaun Rankin knew from early adolescence that he wanted to be a chef. This decision was in part inspired by his experience helping his mother out in the kitchen as a boy, and a number of her cherished recipes – including ham hock soup – were included in his first recipe book, Shaun Rankin’s Seasoned Islands (2010).
Shaun attended catering college in Berkshire before moving to London to gain practical experience, including a period of time working at the five-star May Fair Hotel. He moved to Yorkshire in 1992 to take on position as chef de partie at the Black Bull Inn in Moulton, but before long he was gaining experience all over the world including Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago and Fraser’s in Western Australia.
