The Future of Fire, Flavour & Fearless Cooking
The words of chef James Peck about his young protégée Hannah Dunne at Restaurant Ember in Northamptonshire. After a seven-course meal, RUPERT BATES is in full agreement
Table for one suggests BBQ Billy No Mates is in the house. That may have been the case as I took my seat overlooking the grills of Restaurant Ember in Wellingborough near Northampton. But frankly you can call me what you want, because I was too busy eating a tasting menu from the fire gods, or rather from Hannah Dunne and her team, to care.
Actually, I did talk to someone, and it just happened to be head chef Hannah, as she ran me through the dishes. So there. Fire chefs, with flames licking and plates spinning, seem to stay preternaturally cool. Add in an inquisitive diner asking dumb, culinary questions, and still they are not put off their stride. It quite clearly is not effortless, but it sure looks that way from across the counter.
Hannah, 27, is a rising star in open fire cooking, mentored by Ember chef-owner James Peck. Cooking was an interest from a very young age for Hannah and, with her mother from Barbados, Caribbean flavours were a strong early and indeed enduring influence.
“My passion for wood-fired cooking started about five years ago. I love combining the smoky, bold and natural flavours of an open fire with different skills and techniques picked up and evolved along the way. James Peck has taught me everything about BBQ food and I am still learning every day and loving it,” says Hannah, who lives in Northampton.
She studied catering at Barnfield College in Luton, before starting out as a kitchen porter and working her way up the restaurant ranks. In 2023, Hannah was crowned Young Chef of the Year at the Northamptonshire Food & Drink Awards.
To the food: The first dish is a cheeseburger madeleine. Dry-aged beef mince is smoked over the fire, with the madeleine baked off and then brushed with beef fat. Add Gruyere cheese, gherkins, mustard, onion, garlic and smoked paprika and serve with Ember’s own burger sauce – no, I’m not telling you either.
On to lamb ‘bacon’ tostada with mint chimichurri, whipped feta and pickled onions. The lamb is smoked for six hours and then sliced thinly like bacon and served on a crispy tostada shell.
The third dish is a nine-hour smoked pork belly, with hot honey and soy sauce and a furikake seasoning. As for the drink pairings, rather than a wine flight, I started with the spiced rum and caramel of an Old Fashioned, working my way through the cocktail list. I think I may also have ended up with an Old Fashioned. Hard to remember after seven courses.
Next up were scallops cooked in their shells in the embers of the fire, with a white wine and gem fricassee, caviar and chive oil. The ‘cauliflower cheese’ dish was genius; the BBQ florets steamed and then braised with butter and yeast, with pickled golden raisins and shaved parmesan to finish.
The dry-aged sirloin steak, with celeriac and smoked carrot puree, was cooked dirty in the embers, with the beef sauce extracted from smoking the bones over the wood fire.
The final dish was Ember’s take on a Werther’s Original – spiced apple compote, with whipped butterscotch ganache and roasted white chocolate crumb.
Not so much a tasting menu, but the seven wonders of the grill – endlessly inventive and playful, flavour bombs everywhere, with wood fire the hearth and soul of everything.
“My own favourite BBQ meal would probably be a black garlic marinated flat iron steak (on the Ember menu), with chimichurri, sweet potatoes and Nordic-style doughnuts,” says Hannah.
Peck is bursting with pride at Hannah’s progress and passion; his love of open-fire cooking has clearly been passed on to the whole of his team, both at Ember which he opened four years ago, and also at The Four Pears pub in the Northamptonshire village of Little Houghton, with British produce cooked over charcoal.
“I am so lucky to work with fantastic people across the business. Hannah is everything the BBQ community stands for – grit, generosity and an unwavering hunger to get better. When the fire needed stoking and leadership was required, she didn’t hesitate,” says James Peck.
“She stepped forward with calm confidence and earned respect the right way – through hard work, humility and consistency. Hannah’s dedication to her craft goes far beyond the grill. She studies, she practices, she asks questions, and she shows up, even when it’s tough. Watching her commit herself not only to the food, but to the people around her has been one of the greatest privileges of my career.”
James says, at such a young age, Hannah’s ability to adapt, learn and create is rare.
“She absorbs knowledge like a sponge, then transforms it into something entirely her own – bold, thoughtful and technically sharp. Whether she’s navigating pressure in service or experimenting with new ideas, Hannah carries herself with the poise of someone far beyond her years. I couldn’t be prouder to mentor such an extraordinary talent. The future of fire, flavour and fearless cooking is in very safe hands.”
Never has a table for one been so much fun.
