Staff and residents at Paternoster House Care Home in Waltham Abbey are celebrating because their much-loved head chef, Evan Sanassay, has just graduated from Barchester’s Chef Academy in the Class of 2025. The Academy was held at various different locations around the country over the last year. The Academy is run by Barchester’s Hospitality Development and Standards Manager, Mervyn Knights, and helps chefs to both hone their skills and learn new ones, covering many different modules including cooking for residents living with dementia, budgeting, balancing flavours, minimising wastage, presentation skills and so much more.
Evan, originally from Mauritius, joined Barchester in 2024. From a young age he has enjoyed cooking and absolutely loves his job as a head chef. Evan likes to chat to the residents to find out their likes and dislikes so he can present their food exactly the way they like it. He loves to come up with new ways to surprise and delight his residents with nutritious and flavoursome home-cooked meals.
As he received his certificate, Evan told us: “I really enjoyed taking part in the Academy and attending all the workshops, it was such a positive experience. I have learnt the art of portion control and great new ways to present my dishes.”
General Manager, Flavia Sparhat, said: “We are so proud of Evan, he is an outstanding chef. The residents love his delicious meals.”
Paternoster House Care Home is run by Barchester Healthcare, one of the UK’s largest care providers, which is committed to delivering high-quality care across its care homes and hospitals. Paternoster House Care Home provides residential, nursing and dementia care for short respite breaks and longer term stays.
