Low Wood Bay Resort & Spa has a new head chef at the helm of one of its most popular Lake District restaurants.
Matt Jones Blue Smoke Head Chef
Blue Smoke on the Bay Grill and Booth
Blue Smoke Head Chef
Matt Jones is the new chef in charge of the kitchen team at Blue Smoke at Low Wood Bay in Windermere. It’s his first role as a head chef, having started his career as a kitchen assistant just five years ago.
Matt joined English Lakes Hotels Resorts & Venues in 2018 and rapidly worked his way up the catering team in a variety of different roles including chef de partie and junior sous chef.
Before joining the hotel group, he worked in security and hospitality before deciding that it was the latter in which he wanted to forge a career. He saw the job advertised at Low Wood Bay and decided to take the plunge.
With a combination of in-house training and mentoring from senior chefs and managers at the hotel group, Matt took on greater responsibilities and worked his way up the kitchen hierarchy.
Matt quickly recognised his affinity for helping to run the kitchen. Better still has been his fascination for the restaurant’s double wood-fired grill, sensing the opportunity to get more and more involved in traditional cooking techniques over hot embers and innovative flavours in meats, fish and vegetables.
31-year-old Matt, who lives in Ambleside, explains:
"Blue Smoke is a great place to work, especially as I have a real taste for the type of barbecue and wood smoked steak and meat dishes we serve here. It suits me right down to the ground. When I joined the team here, I wanted to do well, but the main reason for my progression is really down to a strong team working environment, with plenty of development support and, importantly, a real sense of fun."
A unique dining experience on the shores of Windermere
Blue Smoke at Low Wood Bay has rapidly become a highly popular Lake District restaurant and venue, with dinner bookings filled not only by resort guests, but also holiday makers and visitors, as well as local residents from Windermere, Kendal and beyond.
Dinner menus feature an array of spectacular wood fired and smoked dishes including Cumbrian dry-aged sirloin steak, rack of baby back pork ribs with a bourbon BBQ glaze, rosemary seasoned leg of Cumbrian lamb steak or fillets of sea bass with pesto and lemon.
And its open kitchen area around the wood fired grill is a real talking point amongst diners who can watch their orders being prepared.
Another favourite for customers is the restaurant's wood-fired afternoon tea menu - the perfect finish to a day's walking on the fells or an energetic afternoon on the lake at the Low Wood Bay watersports centre.
Sublime savoury treats include crispy coconut king prawns, wood-fired piri piri chicken wings or the toasted slider sandwich with a slow cooked smoked and pulled beef brisket.
Low Wood Bay Resort & Spa general manager Mark Needham is full of praise for Matt’s work ethic and his progress up the career ladder:
"It's been great to follow Matt's progress since he joined the food and beverage team at Low Wood Bay five years ago. He's always been willing to take on new challenges and be proactive within the team and that approach naturally lends itself to leadership roles. When the head chef position became vacant, it was an obvious choice to promote Matt into the role."