Cooked in your kitchen
Private chef in Colchester
Your table in Colchester, my kitchen for the night: a bespoke menu written for your table, cooked in your home — prep, service, and a spotless kitchen before I leave.
Most of my work around Colchester has been in rented houses: two hen parties in Marks Tey and an engagement party in Great Horkesley. This summer I cooked a wedding barbecue in a garden in Wivenhoe.
Colchester is 36 miles by road from the kitchen in Rayleigh.
Photo: Dr Neil Clifton, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped · Wikimedia Commons
Who is cooking
A private chef in Colchester, from a kitchen in Rayleigh
I’m Mike Sutton: 20 years in professional kitchens, nearly a decade running my own restaurant, trained under Gennaro Contaldo and Jamie Oliver. Tipsy Squirrel Events is what I did after I sold the restaurant — the same cooking, brought to your home instead.
The kitchen is in Rayleigh, 36 miles by road from Colchester, and I cook across Essex, London, the South East and East Anglia. Every menu is written from scratch for your table, with 43 sample menus from six regions of the world to start from, and every dietary in the room handled within the same courses — nobody gets a visibly different plate.
How it works
Tell me the date, the headcount, and the occasion — four fields or a WhatsApp message.
I write the menu around your table and every dietary in the room, and we refine it together.
On the night I arrive early, cook, serve, and leave your kitchen spotless.
The practical bits
From £75 per head, £449 minimum spend
Travel to Colchester is quoted with the menu, based on the distance from Rayleigh.
Ingredients, menu design, chef and service, equipment and a full clean-down included
Every dietary catered — nobody gets a visibly different plate
From recent tables
In their words
What guests said
“Mike cooked for 19 of us on a hen do & we absolutely loved it. We had a BBQ and the food was incredible. He was friendly, chatty and very professional. Huge portions too!! Thank you Mike”
“Mike was an amazing chef, he cooked wonderful food which we all enjoyed very much. The presentation was lovely, he really worked so hard, was on time & explained what he had cooked very well.”
Questions from Colchester
Before you book a private chef in Colchester
How much is a private chef in Colchester?
From £75 per head with a £449 minimum spend — ingredients, menu design, the chef on the night, the equipment I bring and a full clean-down are all in that figure. Tell me the date, the headcount and the occasion and you will have the exact price the same day.
Do you charge travel to Colchester?
Travel to Colchester is quoted with the menu, based on the distance from Rayleigh, and shown as one line on your quote before you commit — nothing is added later.
Can you handle allergies and dietary requirements?
Yes. Every menu is built to handle vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free within the same courses, so nobody at the table gets a visibly different plate. Tell me the requirements when you enquire.
How far in advance should I book?
Six to eight weeks for a Saturday in summer. Shorter notice is often possible, particularly midweek. Ask, because cancellations happen.
Planning a wedding? See wedding catering in Essex or all my wedding menus and prices.
Christmas? I cook Christmas Day at home and office Christmas parties from £39 a guest.