Singing and cooking combined: the unique talent of a West Sussex chef
Jean de Rien left corporate job in favour of a career in the food industry
West Sussex chef Jean de Rien hated the commute of the corporate London job he left behind for the food industry–but it was the key to unlocking his unique talent.
Jean, known as The Singing Chef, has combined cuisine and crooning since his days selling sweet treats on market stalls, continuing his craft at supper clubs and now at his fine-dining restaurant The Dining Room, in Crescent Road, Worthing.
It is a pairing diners will not find anywhere else in Worthing – or perhaps even anywhere else in the world.
Yet had he not spent countless hours in his car to and from work, Jean may never have found his unique selling point.
He said: “When I was commuting I was spending 25 hours a week on the motor way and I learned 300 songs off by heart and I didn’ t have to think about it. It was purely muscle memory.
“As far as I know, I am the only one in the world [singing chef].
“There are people who cook then stop and sing but I am literally the only one who sings while I cook and currently the only professional chef.”
Jean spent 20 years in local government, having studied to become a chartered accountant with a specialism in local government finance.
In 2012, he decided to leave his job and set up Vice Puddings, selling sweet treats to businesses and the general public, a company which he still runs today.
“I was a finance director in West London, commuting to London every day,” he said.
“It was physically killing me as I was spending 25 hours a week commuting and 50 hours in the office and the opportunity came to take redundancy, so I created Vice Puddings, doing some business consultancy on the side.”
But while two careers are like chalk and cheese, food had always been a passion of Jean’s.
He explained: “I always had a healthy interest in food. My mum has always cooked and I got involved with that – and she catered for the church events and did massive buffets.
“From the age of 10 or 11 I was always helping her cook.
“At university I was the den mother. I did some roast clubs and everyone gave me a fiver and I’d take about 40 quid a time.
“And with my first marriage we were always the ones people came to for dinner and dinner parties.
“There was a healthy passion there and I just wanted something completely different and also a bit of a challenge.”
Business grew exponentially annually, with every year seeing a new project added to Jean’s repertoire.
Supper clubs hosted at his home and street food events Sundowners and Sun Uppers held in Worthing between 2014 and 2017 were among his other foodbased ventures.
Jean said he had a reputation of being ‘ahead of the curve’ – street food is now a huge phenomenon and private dining was a new concept to Worthing when he introduced it.
Some ideas never came to fruition as a result. He said he had proposed a similar concept for the Grafton car park to today’s Level One food destination but it had been rejected.
“I proposed it seven years ago but back then the council weren’t really in the right mindset,” he said. The Dining Room is now the primary focus. The restaurant runs a number of themed events and afternoon teas but also an ‘accessible, not elitest’ £60 tasting menu–a characteristic ally unique concept in the town.
Modern British in style but influenced by cuisines from across the globe, Jean is a stickler for changing his menu monthly to ensure seasonal produce is at the heart of the offer.
“Restaurants area passion and a labour of love,” he said.
“It is very hard to make money out of this but that is fine because money isn’t my main driver.
“It gives me free re into cook the food that interests me.”
But despite his talent for cooking, Jean said opening the Dining Room did not come without a sense of trepidation.
He said :“I felt very nervous and exposed because I hadn’t put my own dishes out to so many people at once.”
Just like fellow Worthing chef Kenny Tutt, who worked as a bank manager before winning Master Chef and setting up his own restaurants, Jean has no formal culinary qualifications.
“I have a lot of empathy with Kenny,” he said.
“I have found my way through research and experimentation and lots of reading and trial and error.
“I had no catering experience or stages [unpaid placements in the food industry] – I have been too scared to do that!
“But this model works and my passion shines through.”
Covid-19 had a significant impact on the hospitality industry, with restaurants like The Dining Room forced to close for long periods.
Experience of many different ventures however gave Jean an advantage. He quickly adapted, drawing up plans to deliver meals to customers to eat at home.
He said: “That went very well and won us a new audience and revenue was more or less the same as if we had stayed open.
“We found a lot of people have come into the restaurant having only previously experienced the home delivery and we still get a few people ask us about deliveries. Sadly we don’ t have the capacity to run home delivery alongside the restaurant.”
Anyone who heads to the Dining Room will not have to do their own singing, though – Jean confirmed his vocals remained ‘part of the experience’...