Meet the Team - Gabi Fogarasi

 Many of our guests have asked who makes the wonderful and amazing desserts here at The Angel Inn. So, we go behind the scenes to find out a little more about one of the team who work so hard to deliver exceptional food for our guests. 

Pastry chef, Gabi Fogarasi, began the journey that has brought her to The Angel Inn with a business and catering diploma in her native Hungary. To achieve this, she needed to learn a language and took a job in London as a demi chef, where her love of cooking developed. On her return to Hungary, she was able to apply for more senior positions and met our head chef, Ruben Aguilar Bel. They have since worked together in London, Spain and Switzerland, before settling at The Angel Inn, Stoke-by-Nayland. 

That first job back in Hungary found Gabi in a pastry chef role owing to a shortage of staff, but she soon found that she loved the creativity and freedom of building a unique and complex dish from basic ingredients and this became her passion. Working with Angela Hartnett at Murano in Mayfair confirmed that passion and she began to hone the skills that we are so lucky to be able to incorporate into the dining experience here at The Angel Inn. 

Local ingredients and history are very important to Gabi. The sourdough bread we serve at the start of a lunch or dinner at The Angel is made with flour milled at the Woodbridge Tide Mill, a few miles down the road. Gabi comments: 

‘The mill has been working on the same site for 850 years. It’s an honour to work with these ingredients and I want to respect them by baking a perfect sourdough bread.’ 

Gabi also wants to invite diners to be a part of her journey whilst keeping in mind traditional English desserts. Lemons from the Spanish coast bring sunshine into the lightest and beautifully subtle lemon tart, and, when the meal reaches its conclusion, a black olive ganache bon bon made using locally produced chocolate brings a taste of Aragon to The Angel Inn. As Gabi says, ‘There are connections in everything’.