In loving memory of Christopher John Oakes who sadly passed away on 25th June 2015.
Oakes was in the vanguard of the rise of British chefs in the 1980s when he was appointed head chef at the Castle hotel in Taunton, Somerset. The hotel won a Michelin star in 1984 – one of only 14 UK hotel restaurants outside London to hold the accolade at the time.
Kit Chapman, director of the Castle, said Oakes put the hotel on the gastronomic map. He worked at the hotel from 1983 until 1986, when he was replaced by Gary Rhodes.
“Chris was a very quiet, modest man,” said Chapman. “He arrived at the hotel as sous chef and when the head chef suddenly left, I offered him the top job. He initially refused to take the position as he didn’t believe he had the ability, but he was a wonderfully careful, highly competent and skilled cook.”
Born and brought up in Hollesley, Suffolk, Oakes lived above the pub his parents ran in the village. He was an average pupil at school, but showed early promise as a cook when he came top of the class for making, icing and decorating a Christmas cake.
On leaving school, Oakes initially took any job he could to help support his recently widowed mother. After a time working on building sites and delivering milk, he joined Seckford Hall, a country house hotel in Woodbridge as an apprentice in the kitchen. Oakes later moved on to work for Gerald Milsom at Le Talbooth, near Dedham, and the Pier at Harwich. The seven-year experience of working for Milsom gave him the confidence to move further afield, which was when he joined the Castle.
Upon leaving the Castle, Oakes went on to open his own restaurant, Oakes in Stroud, Gloucestershire. In his book Great British Chefs, Chapman wrote at this time: “Oakes’s themes in the kitchen reflect the down-to-earth honesty, single mindedness and restraint of his temperament. He does not like fuss. His preference is for clean, bold flavours and simply-matched textures prepared and arranged in the modern idiom without any contrived prettiness.”
Oakes eventually sold up in 1995 when the recession of the early 1990s took its toll. At the time, he told The Caterer that it was impossible for him to start making cheaper meals that became the vogue as Michelin-star standard cooking was "the only way I know how to cook".
Other highlights of Oakes' culinary career included spells at Claridge's, and the Stafford hotel, and he was also head chef at Cambridge University’s Trinity College for 12 years before retiring March this year.
Chris leaves behind his loving wife Yolande, stepsons William and Lewis and grandson 'Timmy' whom he loved very dearly. He will be watching over them always.
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