Kuba Winkowski creates development kitchen and dining experience in home garden

Kuba Winkowski has created a development kitchen and exclusive dining experience in the garden of his home in the Cotswolds as he prepares for the opening of debut restaurant Kubarn.

Winkowski, the Craft Guild of Chefs National Chef of the Year 2019, stepped down as head chef at the Feathered Nest Inn in August after nine years behind the pass.

He had joined the site in Nether Westcote, Oxfordshire, in 2010 after working under Raymond Blanc and Gary Jones at Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons.

For more than a year Winkowski has been working to create the first incarnation of Kubarn at his home in Bourton-on-the-Water, Oxfordshire, with many of his National Chef of the Year prizes contributing to his vision, including a £7,500 personal development fund from Unilever Food Solutions, crockery from Churchill and equipment from Bunzl Lockhart.

The chef said: “It’s basically been supported by every major sponsor, so really it’s a reflection of my prize for winning the title.”

Winkowski’s creation is a wooden cabin, containing a large wood-fired oven made by the chef and his wife, a Japanese barbecue, induction hobs, a fryer and space for four guests – five at a squeeze – to enjoy a demonstration and meal created by the chef.

The Kubarn will host events with producers as well as private dining experiences, the first of which will be a collaboration with wagyu beef expert Nikifor Mleczak, running from 28 November to 1 December.

Winkowski said: “The main focus is to secure a venue and open the restaurant of the same name, but that’s going to take some time. We’re in talks at the minute about a space, but this offers a very one-to-one experience, not just eating, but how to cook, how to treat it.

“It’s also a development kitchen to test my menu on people and ask them what they like – as chefs we often like something but sometimes people like something simpler. This is the perfect space for me to find out find out from people what they like.”

Tickets for the first events are available here.