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I had my first taste of catering at the age of six when my parents took on a bar in the local village. It was great fun “helping” in the bar; I used to love to make coffee!
During the last year at school it was suggested I either take up an art or a technical drawing course at college.
Painting is another one of my loves, and I have won some painting competitions during my early teens, but I could not see a future in art, so the nearest thing I could think of to art was cooking… a blank canvas,(the pot), the colours, (the ingredients), the masterpiece, (the final dish). This came as a surprise for both my family and teachers but the decision was made, and at the age of fourteen I signed up for a three years cookery course at the Catering College Ferdinando Martini in Montecatini Terme.. While acquiring my diploma I worked in several three and four stars hotels in Montecatini, during the summer and in ski resorts during the winter.
During my last year in college aged 16 I met what was to become my future wife, Fiorinda; who was studying front of House and languages. At the end of the catering course, in 1981 I was offered a job in England at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Restaurants as a Commis Chef. This was an opportunity to work in a new country, acquire new experiences, and finally learning some English which I so much struggled learning during the college course. Fiorinda was also offered a job and In March 1982 we arrived in Stratford Upon Avon for what was supposed to be one year contract. After moving from the kitchen to the front of house and back in the kitchen again, six years later we were still in the UK.
In 1988 the company purchased a hotel in Chipping Campden, the Seymour House Hotel and I moved there as Head Chef. This seemed the perfect occasion to be totally free in the kitchen and use my own ideas. At the age of 23 yrs old I was given the position of Chef Manager, I found myself running a hotel in the middle of a major refurbishment and kitchen at the same time. I run Seymour House Hotel for nearly 16 years collecting over the years AA Rosettes, a listing in Michelin, Heartbeat awards and many more awards. As a sale stunt, I created the “Pasta Club” which in the 90’s become very successful, with nearly a 1000 members. In the early 2000 I was approached by the British Sprouts Association and I was appointed as their honorary chef. 
Working with Sprouts is what has brought me in contact with national media, television and radio. Sprouts are a bit like marmite, people seems to either love or hate them, but everyone wants to talk about them. As a chef this has allowed me to challenge people perception of the humble sprout, creating dishes that changed people minds once they have tried them.
Working together with William Haines one of the largest growers of sprouts in Britain we have been campaigning up to date to give sprouts some credibility. The journey so far has taken us to be featured on Heart of the Country, GMTV, Central, One Show, Midlands Today, Countryfile, BBC good food show at the NEC, BBC Christmas show in London, Cooking on the radio for Woman’s hour, interviews with local and national radios and more… Over the years we have also worked with schools promoting fresh local seasonal produce, teaching children how to grow and how to use fresh produce. I have also done cookery demonstrations for BBC Good food Show, Heart of England Fine Food, and at the Malvern showgrounds. The demonstration at the Malvern show proved so popular that I have been given a unique spot on all shows creating this year in 2009 “Felice’s Kitchen”. Finally in 2004 I handed my resignations to the company I was suppose to only work for one year and we opened Fusion Brasserie in April. The love for local fresh produce with the usual “fusion twist” has contributed to making Fusion Brasserie a popular venue, regardless the change of location two years ago. A number of my recipes have been featured on a book by Tess Read, and the most quirky recipes “sprouty cake” has reached “global” attention, with cakes being made in USA, and even Australia.
Some of my interests...
Although I do not think of being a perfectionist workaholic, this is what I am accused to be many times. My philosophy is very simple if you have to do something there is only one way: to do it to best of your knowledge! This applies to anything I do; I love constructive criticism, and whatever you do now, it can be done better next time. I love food, I have built my life around it and I get very annoyed when people treat it only as fuel. I love to talk about, play with it, eating it, reading about and trying new combinations. I am very open minded when it comes to food and I am willing to try almost anything; but I believe that it does not matter how good a cook you are, if the ingredients are not good to begin with you always achieve a mediocre result. When I can escape I love fishing, coarse fishing, sea fishing, and lately I also have given a go to fly fishing but s still early days I am still rubbish at it. Fishing allows me to switch off, there is usually no one on the riverbank to annoy you; you can get in touch with nature, birds will come close begging for food, fox, mice and other animals get on with their life like as if you are not there… it is peace. Then in the other hand I love the buzz and noise of a busy service in the kitchen, with the adrenaline pumping fast! I enjoy almost anything that is creative and artistic although, contrary to my son, I am rubbish at music. I like listening to it but I have never been able to play any musical instrument, although I have promised myself that one of this days I am going to learn to play the piano. Family Fiorinda was born in England from Italian parents. She moved back to Italy at the age of seven. Her dream was to learn languages, but as the nearest language school was in Florence, and her parents were against travelling to and from Florence everyday, when it came to choose a college she settled for second best and chose catering college where she could at least study 4 languages. we got together in the last year of college and we are still going! Fiorinda has always been extremely supportive and has always believed in whatever decision I have taken, sometime even more that I believed in it myself. Our dream has always been to have our own restaurant, although Fiorinda heart is really in sales. She is a natural salesperson, sometime I tease her saying that the reason people buy from her is because they can no longer listen to her talking. But that is who she is, she can engage in a conversation with anyone and she is always ready to give a helping hand to anyone. Fiorinda takes care of all the marketing and advertising of Fusion and myself (sometime I feel like a product), comes up with new ideas and organises special evening as well as playing hostess, waitress, etc in the restaurant.
When Daniel, our son, was born in 1990, we took the decision that we were not going to change our life, so he had to adapt to ours therefore he has grown up in catering. This has made him very strong minded (sometimes even too much), he knows what he wants and he will plan a way to achieve his objective. Daniel shares my passion for cooking and he has been helping in the kitchen for some time, achieving good results. But his heart is really into music, which is the subject he is studying at present, hoping to make it into music production or something similar in the future. 
He loves to play almost any instrument, some with better results than other, (violin is certainly not his best) and since we have provided him with an Apple mac, he also writes music with his computer. The end of 2008 he wrote and performed a couple of rap song that were played by a couple of the local radio station. Somehow he seems to have worked his future out if the music industry fails, he will simply move back in the kitchen!
The restaurant...
The thinking behind…
Having worked in catering all our lives, and listened to the comments of our clients, together with our experiences of dining out, we felt that there was a gap in the market for something different. Starting our business was a natural progression of “our dream” and the need to place into practice all those ideas that sometime can not be realised when working as an employee. The idea was not to create the place to be seen in, but the place that you want to go time and time again. Of course leaving two well paid jobs for the unknown and digging deep in our pockets to fund the new venture meant that we could not afford to fail. Fusion Brasserie is a restaurant and bar set in a rural location, offering a wide range of dishes created on the main from locally sourced fresh ingredients. The menus and service that we offer reflects our own beliefs and passion. We are not a “refuelling station” for the masses, but a restaurant that caters for a niche market of people that are looking for interesting dishes served in very relaxed atmosphere. Fusion Brasserie opened its doors at the beginning of April 2004 in rented premises in the middle of nowhere in an old barn in the Ragley estate. The name represents the blend of old and new, the variety on nationality that we employ, and the approach to cooking that we were embarking on. The restaurant gained local popularity very quickly, but problems with the landlords, pushed us to move quicker than we wanted to seek for alternative premises. The present venue, the Bird in Hand, was purchased in August 2006. The company run both restaurants until January 2007, when we closed the original restaurant to concentrate on the Worcester venue. In 2007 after winning the regional “Most promising new business” through the British Chamber of Commerce we went trough as finalist in the nationals.
So here is my life so far, so watch this space for more.......
Felice Tocchini