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Each of our luxury hotel barges feature a master chef with world-class training and a certain flare for creating mouth-watering taste sensations in particularly compact mobile kitchens! Playing a huge role in your luxury barge cruising experience – here’s an introduction to just a few of this season’s barge chefs…
Meet Our Barge Chefs
Dave Lawrence, Anjodi
Dave is from the Australian island state of Tasmania. He worked briefly on Anjodi’s sister barge, L’Art de Vivre in the start of the 2012 barging season, before returning to his hometown of Hobart, Tasmania to work as a Head Chef. In 2019 Dave joined the crew of Spirit of Scotland with his partner and fellow crew member, Michelle; and this year he is looking forward to returning to the markets of France.
Arnis Maskevics, La Belle Epoque
Originating from Latvia, Arnis (pronounced Ar-nee) joined the crew of La Belle Epoque in 2018, having spent most of the previous year working aboard Panache. Experienced in a multitude of culinary expertise, Arnis is looking forward to putting his skills to excellent use aboard La Belle Epoque. A great multi-skilled crew member, Arnis also enjoys throwing a rope if necessary, in between courses!
Hannah Dunleavy, Renaissance
Hannah has been a much-loved member of the Renaissance crew since 2014. Having previously worked as a hairdresser, Hannah quickly fell in love with food and moved to France to learn its fine cuisine, which she now shares with our guests years later.
Jonathan Drew, Panache
Jonathan lives outside Glasgow where he trained and gained experience in high-end hospitality in the prestigious Number Seven Lounge of Celtic FC. While working for the Compass Group preparing private buffets and fine dining events for Directors and Senior Management at the new Scottish Power HQ in Glasgow, he competed in The Compass Chef of the Year Competition, finishing second! Jonathan, or ‘Jonny’ to his friends – joined Panache when he was visiting Alsace and is looking forward to a full season onboard and adapting his menus for both Holland and Northern France.
Sylvain Moretto, Enchanté
An extremely experienced chef, Sylvain has been barging for over ten seasons with European Waterways and Enchanté, including three seasons aboard Renaissance. Many of our guests who are fortunate to enjoy Sylvain’s cuisine will photograph and write about their culinary adventures.
Jim McGarry, L’Impressionniste
Jim is one of our most seasoned barge chefs, having worked on a number of our cruises for seven seasons. In his eighth season aboard L’Impressionniste, Jim continues to delight passengers with his varied menus and beautiful presentations.
Erell Delmotte, Rosa
Erell has been a crewmember within the European Waterways group since 2015 as both a hostess and a guide. Having worked closely with the chefs onboard barges Nymphea, Renaissance, Finesse, Panache, L’Impressionniste and Scottish Highlander, Erell gained valuable experience and spent the winter of 2018 training as a chef. Her weeks as relief chef on Rosa in 2019 were more than enough to convince Barge Manager and Owner, Dominique, to offer her the position as barge chef for the 2020 season.
Robert Erdelyi, Spirit of Scotland
Robert is originally from Budapest and gained his experience working on the larger river boats. His first experience working on a luxury barge cruise as aboard L’Art de Vivre, where he thoroughly enjoyed a close working connection with the barge’s passengers. You’ll instantly warm to Robert’s big character and broad smile.
Mike Crowson, Finesse
A bit of a celebrity in the world of culinary blogging, Mike Crowson also known in the blogging world as ‘The Barge Chef’, spends the barging season serving up delicious meals for the lucky passengers aboard luxury hotel barge Finesse. Born and bred in Cornwall, Mike is a stellar chef who takes a great deal of satisfaction from both barging and cooking up a storm in the kitchen.
Andrea Chin, La Bella Vita
Andrea has been the Italian master chef aboard La Bella Vita since its launch. This culinary extraordinaire loves interacting with clients and sharing his passion for Italian food. But don’t take our word for it – our client reviews on Chef Andrea’s creations speak for themselves!
Enjoy Luxury Barge Cruising with the Experts
Whichever barge you choose to cruise with, our onboard chef will delight you with culinary creations that feature the best locally-sourced ingredients and he/she has the experience and imagination to produce dishes that cater to your specific dietary requirements. Usually, our chefs will also be pleased to show off their skills with a cooking demonstration in the galley.
Talk to a member of our Sales Team for help in planning your perfect luxury barge cruise along Europe’s finest waterways.