YOUR EXPERIENCE

Tom Shepherd

Owner of Michelin Star restaurant Upstairs, TV personality and culinary advisor for the Bobby Moore Lounge at Wembley Stadium.

How do you approach creating a menu for a venue as iconic as Wembley Stadium?

Firstly, I always take into consideration what sort of game it is, if it's an England game, I like to incorporate something on the menu that celebrates England's opponents. If it's a prestigious FA Cup game, I always tend to use more luxurious ingredients to further celebrate the game's magnitude.

Can you share any challenges you faced when designing the menu for such a diverse audience?

Dietary requirements are always a challenge, you obviously want to please everyone, but as we know, that isn't easy, so I focus on trying to create dishes with elements that appeal to a wider audience. 

What has been your journey as a chef leading up to this role at the stadium?

I started as an apprentice in my hometown of Sutton Coldfield, with stints in various 1 and 2 Michelin-starred restaurants in the UK, I now have my own Michelin star restaurant (Upstairs by Tom Shepherd in Lichfield) which has helped promote me and my food to the extent where The FA, Lords and Royal Ascot alike have reached out to me.

Can you highlight a few defining moments in your culinary career that have influenced your cooking style?

As defining moments go from a dining-out perspective, The Ledbury, in Notting Hill, is by far my favourite restaurant experience in England. I have been fortunate to eat there four times and each time it improves, this restaurant inspires me to be better and gives me a goal to at least try and aim for. Their philosophy on food and delivery is something that I aspire to.

As for Per Se, this was unbelievably special for several reasons, my now wife, Charlotte, took me to New York for my 30^th birthday, she was pregnant with our daughter, Grace at the time (not at the time of booking) and I arranged to propose to her while we were there, on the day of Per Se, we had a bike ride around Central Park, had a picnic and I popped the question, she fortunately said yes, and we celebrated at Per Se in the evening.

Per Se as an experience just exudes class, using the most precious, exotic, and incredible ingredients, in such generous quantities, blew my mind, its 3 Michelin star and it was the first experience I had where a 3-star restaurant really blew my socks off. Pair that with the day I had, it was so, so, special.

A restaurant I’m dying to try is Zen, in Singapore, I have been a long-time admirer of Bjorn Frantzen and would love to visit Asia.

If you’re at home watching England or Aston Villa, what’s your go-to comfort meal to cook?

My comfort meal will always be chicken wings, with buffalo hot sauce, blue cheese dip and crudities, it's just the best comfort, finger-style food, that’s messy but so good.

Who is the most famous person you’ve cooked for and what was the meal?

I’ve been fortunate enough to cook for a whole array of famous people, be it in the restaurant or at their homes. I’ve cooked for Jamie Vardy and his family on Christmas Day, I’ve cooked for Adam Peaty and his now fiancé Holly Ramsay at the restaurant, Ex England managers Roy Hodgson and Sam Allardyce. Chris Woakes a England World Cup winning Cricketer, I’ve housed a wedding for Neil Hodgson an ex-Moto GP rider, Rob Edwards the Luton Manager, I’ve cooked James Martin breakfast, along with the culinary legend, Pierre Koffman.