A chef who returned to his roots to open a Michelin Guide-featured restaurant is about to launch his second venue.
Thom Bateman is putting the finishing touches to Après, a new restaurant that will offer small plate dishes for sharing inspired by seasonal produce.
It is due to open as a separate venue on the same site as his current restaurant The Flintlock, in Cheddleton, this autumn.
Thom, who has 1.3 million followers on Instagram and 2.6 million on TikTok, is self-funding building work at the canal-side location to separate the businesses and the kit out of the new venture.
The menu is expected to feature various wood-fired dishes including flatbreads, meat, fish and vegetables.
Guests will be able to dine upstairs, enjoy a drinks-based focus with low tables downstairs and utilise outside space by the Caldon Canal.
Thom, who has appeared on the BBC2 show Great British Menu and headlined many food festivals, told Daily Focus: “Après will have all the same high standards as The Flintlock but I want to create a more relaxed environment that doesn’t need to be planned months or weeks in advance.
“The menu will be focussed on seasonal sharing plates. There will be a lot of food coming from the wood-fired oven and the menu is also likely to feature things such as Shropshire wild boar – a really amazing product that we would like to showcase.”
Around ten new jobs will be created by the venture, with recruitment due to start imminently.
Thom opened The Flintlock in September 2020, but his links to the site go back to 2003 when he started his career at the Latin American restaurant Castros, which used to be based there.
He left the industry a few years later due to challenges with mental health but reignited his passion for cooking with the launch of a food blog five years ago.
The Flintlock was only open for a few weeks before it was forced to shut during the Covid-19 pandemic, but went on to gain two AA Rosettes in its first year and achieved Michelin Guide status earlier this year.
Thom, who grew up in Endon and now lives in Cheddleton, added: “The Flintlock is an excellent place. The standards get better all the time, and we have made massive steps forward in the last 12 months.
“There are a lot of challenges within the hospitality industry at the moment. We want to do this new restaurant, but we also must do it because we have empty space that is not being used.
“With the creativity amongst us, we wanted to create something that adds to what we have got and the fact that it is within the same building is incredibly helpful.”
To keep the excitement brewing during the summer whilst working on the final aspects of Après, Thom has been hosting pop-up menus serving panuozzo, a Neapolitan street food using pizza dough to make sandwiches dating back to 1980’s Italy.
- Anyone interested in applying for a job at Après should email [email protected].
