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About Renu B
Chef Renu B was set up in August 2021, and is a surrey based private chef service with me Renu Ballantine, the director and chef at the helm. Being a private chef has always been my passion, I just took a roundabout way to get there. I originally studied in Manufacturing Engineering and Economics at Birmingham University, which led me into a career in Engineering and Commercial roles and I now have 23 years’ work experience in the corporate world under my belt. Not the type of background you would expect for a chef, but it has provided me with a creative business mind, drive, commitment, and a whole set of transferrable skills.
Whilst living in the USA I followed my passion for food and set up as a Personal Chef in Miami, Florida and Arlington, Virginia. Those 4 years were some of my most enjoyable and so, on retirement from the corporate world, I retrained at Leiths School of Food and Wine in two professional courses.
Nutrition in Culinary Practice is a course designed for chefs to understand the nutritional content of food, and how to create well balanced, tasty, presentable plates of food for folks with a dietary or lifestyle requirement in mind. This immersive 12-week program blends innovation, practical cooking, and the theory behind nutrition. With the daily pressures of long workdays and a dual career family, finding a pragmatic, healthy approach to meals was always a challenge for me. Leiths training has given me some fantastic answers with a great insight into nutrition, meal planning, essential vitamins, and minerals. My weekly chef services, cooking class parties and fine dining dinners can all be adapted for dietary needs such as coeliac disease, gluten free, vegetarian, vegan, lactose intolerance or raw food.
Leiths Chefs Skills is a full time intensive 4-week program for experienced cooks to build on fundamental cooking techniques and learn contemporary modern global recipes for fine dining restaurants and clients.
Cultural diversity is what makes me thrive and my experiences living abroad have introduced my global local treats. I have lived in Southern and East Coast USA, the Middle East, and all over the UK. My food reflects this and as I develop recipes, it somehow just works for me to bring flavours and techniques from all over the world together. A puff pastry top to a biryani brings much needed crunch and a pinch of za’atar on poached eggs on toast just livens up breakfast.
As your local private chef, I look forward to sharing my journey, newly renewed knowledge, and love of food, with you.
Follow me on to keep up to date with recipes and nutrition tips and click on the images below to view my certification.
