About
Letting a stranger cook in your holiday kitchen is a leap.
So here is exactly who turns up, what he does, and what the evening actually feels like.
- many years professional kitchens
- Countless villa dinners
- Insured & certified
What it means for your week
many years of kitchens, spent on your holiday instead of his.
Simon spent many years cooking in professional kitchens — the kind where service runs on timing and nothing leaves the pass twice. That background is not here to impress you. It is the reason four courses come out of an unfamiliar rental kitchen, on time, for twelve people, without any drama spilling into the room you are sitting in.
It is also why the shopping works. He buys from the same local markets and suppliers he has used for years, in Spanish, on the morning of your dinner. You get better fish than a supermarket run would have found, at a price that beats taking the same group out.
And it is why the kitchen is spotless afterwards. Clearing down at the end of service is a habit, not a favour.
The evening itself
What actually happens.
-
i
You barely hear from him
One conversation about the menu, allergies and timing. Then nothing to organise until he knocks — no shopping lists, no last-minute questions.
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ii
He stays out of your evening
He works in the kitchen, comes out to serve each course and say what it is, then leaves you to it. Between courses you would forget he was there.
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iii
You wake to a clean kitchen
Table cleared, everything washed, bins out, surfaces wiped. Nobody comes down in the morning to a sink full of pans.
Why villas, and why here
The best table in Spain is the one you are already renting.
Restaurants are wonderful. They are also two cars, a booking time, tired children and a bill that quietly doubles once drinks are on it. Meanwhile the villa has the terrace, the view and the long table you paid for and have barely used after dark.
That is the whole idea behind Simon Griffith. Not fine dining flown in for show — good food, cooked where you already are, so the evening belongs to your group instead of a room full of other people's.
Simon has cooked in holiday villas across Spain for years. He knows which rental kitchens have two hob rings and a temperamental oven, which markets are worth the drive on a Tuesday, and what a group of ten actually wants to eat on the fourth night of a holiday.
Honest answers
The things people are too polite to ask.
Will a chef in the villa feel intrusive?
No. He works quietly, comes out to serve and explain each course, and is gone within about an hour of the last plate. Most groups forget he is there between courses — which is the point.
Do we need to be there while he cooks?
Not at all. Plenty of groups are still at the beach while the cooking happens. Someone needs to be at the villa to let him in, and that is it.
Is a private chef only for special occasions?
No. Most bookings are ordinary weeknights on an ordinary family holiday, where the group simply decided they were not cooking. Per head it usually costs less than taking the same group out to a decent restaurant.
Does Simon speak Spanish?
Yes. He shops in Spanish at local markets and suppliers, which is a large part of why the food is better and the pricing works.
Is he insured and food-hygiene certified?
Yes — public liability insurance and current food hygiene certification. Certificates can be sent to your villa owner or management company on request.
Book
Still your holiday. Just without the kitchen.
Send your dates over and you will have a reply today.