Ambition Knows No “Boundary” At Leiths

In celebration of its 40th anniversary, leading UK cooking school Leiths, has joined forces with multi-award winning hotel Boundary Restaurant, Rooms, Rooftop to create a unique training programme for students on the renowned Leiths Diploma in Food and Wine.

Boutique design hotel, Boundary is home to three unique restaurants and six Leiths students will be chosen to spend time training in the Boundary kitchens under the careful guidance of talented head chef Frederick Forster. Leiths and Boundary share a grounding in classic techniques, combined with contemporary, refined recipes, making this the idea partnership for the skills development of Diploma students.

Camilla Schneideman, Managing Director of Leiths says; "Being able to work with Boundary is such an incredible opportunity for our students. We pride ourselves on our thorough training in techniques and skills, so for our students to be able to put these skills into practice in a live restaurant environment is something you can't put a value on. Frederick is such a skilled chef, and for him to have such confidence in our students, and allow them to cook and serve food so early on in their training is a great compliment."

Diploma students were treated to a cookery demonstration by Frederick Forster on 19 November to showcase the best of Boundary cuisine and invited to apply for the coveted positions. The first stage will commence on Wednesday 7 January, and students will be cooking and serving Boundary dishes in the restaurant on 4 consecutive evenings. A second placement will take place in April when students will be able to develop the skills they have learnt on the Diploma and they will complete their experience at Boundary in July when they will be given the fantastic opportunity to design the menu with Frederick Forster.

Frederick adds "I am looking forward to seeing how the students develop over the year and build upon their skills and training by teaching them our dishes. I believe that by the end of the experience we will have competent and skilled chefs who will be able to meet the challenges of a busy London restaurant."

The students will be recording their progress on the Leiths blog, leiths.com/blog and guests and member of the public are invited to select the dishes prepared by the students from the Boundary menu.

ENDS

About Leiths

Leiths School of Food and Wine is a first-class training school for chefs, attracting students of all ages from all over the world. With its dedicated teaching and friendly atmosphere, Leiths guiding principle is to impart enthusiasm for the trade and instil a lasting love of good food and wine.

For those with professional ambitions, the Leiths Diploma in Food and Wine is highly respected in the culinary world and can be achieved in three terms, starting in September, or in two terms, starting in January.

Celebrating 40 years of teaching in 2015, Leiths has trained over 4,000 professional students, many of whom have gone on to great success in the food world including food writers Diana Henry and Xanthe Clay; TV chefs Lorraine Pascale, Gizzi Erskine and Matt Tebutt and Henry Harris of Racine, Joe Mercer-Nairne of Michelin starred restaurant, Medlar, and current Managing Director of Leiths, Camilla Schneideman.

To find out more about Frederick Forster's demonstration to Leiths students, read Florence Cornish's account of his visit on the Leiths blog (http://www.leiths.com/blog/east-meets-west-chef-frederick-forster-leiths/).

About Boundary

Boundary, a Terence Conran, Vicki Conran and Peter Prescott project, comprising three restaurants and bars, 17 individually designed guest bedrooms, a bakery and small food store, plus a rooftop garden, originally opened on New Year's Eve 2008, taking over the site of a late-Victorian warehouse in Shoreditch.

Frederick Forster, head chef

Frederick undoubtedly has one of the most impressive CVs in the country, having worked with some of the world's very best Michelin-starred chefs including Raymond Blanc, Gordon Ramsay, Thomas Keller and Pierre Gagnaire, as well as winning the Roux Scholarship, being a finalist in the Craft Guild National Chef of the Year Award in 2008, and taking the trophy home for 2012.

His career began with studying Hospitality and Catering at London's Westminster College before spending three years at Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons in Oxfordshire under Raymond Blanc, followed by four years with Gordon Ramsay at L'Aubergine restaurant. Frederick then went to work with Michel Roux Jnr at Le Gavroche and then at Addington Palace alongside chef Simon Rogan, before winning the coveted Roux Scholarship in 2000. Frederick then spent some time working abroad, taking his first head chef role at the luxury Sandy Lane Hotel in Barbados, followed by the Royal Mirage Hotel in Dubai.

Returning to London, he took up the position of head chef at The Ritz under John Williams, running the kitchen for three years. Since then, Frederick has worked at various places in the UK and abroad, including a stint in South Africa during the World Cup, before being headhunted for the role of head chef at Boundary.