Richard Carstens
10:10am All is calm on the wooden deck, the only sounds are the gurgling of a stream and the far-off ticking of a sprinkler on one of Chamonix Estate’s lawns. It’s not the first time Richard Carstens has been a chef here. In the early nineties, he managed and cooked at La Maison de Chamonix at the manor house. Now, he and his team occupy the 300-year-old blacksmith’s cottage that, until recently, housed Racine Restaurant.
The chef and his seven-strong brigade are absorbed in their respective tasks. Commis chef Lynette Chikuwe is spooning wasabi mayonnaise into squeezy bottles and behind her chef de partie Mable
