Jake Leach

The Climb

Training at Guildford College, then work experience in a pub in Guildford, then a move to head chef at The Ledbury in Notting Hill until 2021: Jake Leach’s route is built on the ordinary disciplines of kitchen work. The sequence points to apprenticeship rather than theatrics — learning the pace of service, the basics of the pass, and the demands of leading a serious restaurant kitchen. The throughline is control, not display. Since 2021, head chef at The Harwood Arms in London has been the setting for that same approach. In Leach’s case, the progression reads as steady accumulation: each stage adding responsibility without changing the register.

Today

At The Harwood Arms in London, Leach works in a format that rewards clarity. He has said, “I think I have always enjoyed simpler restaurant experiences, and usually go for places that offer a la carte rather than an overly long tasting menu, perhaps because I enjoy cooking simpler food myself.” The point is direct: cooking that avoids clutter, service that leaves room for choice, and a kitchen language that favors restraint over excess.

Signature

Fallow deer shoulder cooked for eight hours, slices of rich beef tongue on dripping toast with celeriac, oyster schnitzel, and Aynhoe Park honey tart define Leach’s signature in four lines. The common thread is legibility: long cooking used where it matters, richness balanced by earthier elements, crispness introduced for contrast, and sweetness kept in check. The dishes lean on texture and depth rather than ornament.

In Their Words “I think I have always enjoyed simpler restaurant experiences, and usually go for places that offer a la carte rather than an overly long tasting menu, perhaps because I enjoy cooking simpler food myself.”

Recognition

Put beside Leach’s own preference for simpler restaurant experiences, it presents a chef whose credibility comes from progression, named kitchens, and a consistent approach to cooking.