RECREATE
The Milsom group of restaurants is a long established and much loved and respected family company based in the East of England. The flagship Le Talbooth restaurant in Dedham, founded in 1952, is the most famous restaurant in the Milsom group and holds legendary status in the world of British hospitality. The Milsom group of restaurants and hotels is regarded as a blue chip operation in the hosotialtiy industry.
In 2011 Stas Anastasiades, the celebrated Operations Director of The Milsom restaurant group and an avid collector of cookery books, contacted Jon Croft to discuss the possibility of publishing a cookery book featuring the most loved recipes from the Milsom chefs.
The book was to be sold through their various establishments. Stas had long admired Absolute Press, Jon Croft’s award winning publishing house, and had many Absolute Press cookery titles on his bookshelves.
When they first lunched to discuss the Milsom book there was an immediate meeting of minds and a shared passion for restaurants, food, wine and industry gossip. They agreed to work together and the book would be called RecrEATe.
A charming and touching film on the making of RecrEATe was commissioned by Stas – the film can be viewed here on our website. It tells a tale of passion and commitment and fun and celebrates the joy of writing and publishing your own cookery book.
Once the parameters and ambition for the book had been agreed a team was put in place to produce a book worthy of Milsom restaurants. Laura James, a distinguished and much published journalist and food writer was commissioned to work on the narrative of the book while Stas set about organising and testing the recipes from his chefs.
Lara Homes was commissioned to provide the food photography. A prefect team had been brought together to publish a perfect book.
