Cooked in your kitchen
Private chef in Hockley
Your table in Hockley, 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.
This year I cooked a 60th birthday here, and a family 30th just down the road in Rochford.
Hockley is 3 miles by road from the kitchen in Rayleigh.
Photo: John Myers, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped · Wikimedia Commons
Who is cooking
A private chef in Hockley, 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, 3 miles by road from Hockley, 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 Hockley 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
“Amazing Chef, food & service. We will definitely book Mike again — food was amazing, he's a really talented chef, left clean with excellent service. Would 100% recommend him.”
“We had the most amazing evening with Chef Mike! The food was exceptional and he made the evening truly unforgettable! I cannot recommend enough!”
Questions from Hockley
Before you book a private chef in Hockley
How much is a private chef in Hockley?
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 Hockley?
Travel to Hockley 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 cook in a holiday rental near Hockley?
Yes. Most hen do bookings are in rentals. Send a photo of the kitchen when you enquire and I will build the menu around what is actually there — I bring whatever is missing.
Do you cook in my kitchen?
Yes. I arrive early, bring what your kitchen does not have, cook and serve every course, then clean down before I leave. If your hob has two working rings, that is workable — it has been before.
Do you deliver the weekday lunch boxes to Hockley?
Not at the moment: the OuiChef Meal Prep lunch boxes are paused for now. Hockley is in the delivery area (SS postcodes around Southend), so leave your name on the Meal Prep page and I will let you know first when they restart.
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.