Award Winning Chef Joins Southend's Royal Hotel Restaurant!

September 19, 2016 by Joanna Harrison

The Royal Hotel, one of Southend-on-Sea's most famous historical buildings, was sympathetically restored to reflect its former Georgian elegance and opened as an exclusive restaurant and bar during Spring 2016.

Howard Webb, an award winning top chef, has joined The Royal Hotel, one of Southend’s most historic buildings, which opened this year as an exclusive restaurant and bar. As Head Chef, he has already created a range of innovative dishes for the new menus being launched next week.

Says Webb: “I am really looking forward to working with the team at the Royal Hotel. I am really passionate about cooking and enjoy creating new and exciting dishes using fresh ingredients. The Royal’s beautiful former ballroom is a fantastic setting for me to present the amazing dishes I have created.”

The Royal’s management team is delighted to have attracted someone of Howard’s exceptional standing. “This is great news. Howard has a deservedly impressive reputation and he will undoubtedly give a big boost to creating a truly outstanding dining experience for our customers.”

Since Howard moved to Southend at the beginning of 2011 he has been Head Chef at two of the town’s most prestigious restaurants, The Roslin Beach Hotel where he achieved the coveted 1 Rosette status for his food and Toulouse where he was also responsible for the Arlington Rooms on London Road and Old Parish Rooms in Rayleigh.

Howard is enlarging the kitchen team by introducing two other additional senior local chefs to the Royal’s existing experienced line-up.

The brand new menus will cover lunch, afternoon tea and dinner in the restaurant and new dishes for the bar and lounge throughout the day. Howard has already drafted a luxurious, mouth-watering menu for the Christmas period.

It could be said that the hospitality sector is an intrinsic part of the Webb family’s DNA. Both of Howard’s older brothers are chefs and Howard’s first ‘2 Rosette job’ was when he was just 21 years old, working as a Chef de Partie under brothers Clint and Glen.

His first job in a kitchen however, was far more modest; at the age of 14 he was doing washing up in the evenings and weekend. By 15 he was making salads and sandwiches.

His rise through the ranks was rapid and at just 22 he was Head Chef at a three-star hotel with an 80 seat restaurant. It was here he was presented with his first AA Dining Award. In fact, the chef that taught him his early craft when he was a lad of 15 became Howard’s Chef de Partie when he took this Head Chef position.

The new food offering will be complemented by additions to The Royal Hotel’s extensive range of drinks. The long wine list is being further extended to include some delightful new vintages whilst the highly popular cocktail list is expanded by the addition of some sensational new drinks created by our mixologists including ‘The Lordship’s Water’ which is based on Courvoisier VSOP cognac, Bacardi Oak Heart rum stirred with still mineral water and Crème de Peche, a peach liqueur. In addition, there is a constantly flourishing array of spirits on display, as well as a good range of craft beers and ciders.