Jessica’s head chef leaves to pursue dream of opening own restaurant
Glynn Purnell, Head Chef of Michelin-starred restaurant Jessica's in Edgbaston, Birmingham, is leaving the restaurant to open his own restaurant this summer.
Purnell's fine dining restaurant will open in July in the centre of Birmingham's business district in a red-brick and terra-cotta Victorian building that used to be a contemporary furniture shop.
The 45-cover restaurant, which will include a private dining room for 12, is being designed by local interior design team Joseph & Satou and will feature a black slate floor, cream seating and a bar.
Purnell's will offer five and sevencourse tasting menus, with wine matches. Purnell said, "Picking up the keys for my own restaurant is a dream come true." Speaking about Jessica's he added, "Because we've had great success here I feel it's really gone as far as I could take it."
"I can't go to bed and wake up a different chef," he continued.
"But I will be using a few quirkier combinations and different techniques to try to bring something fresh to the area.
"Most restaurants are beginning to look the same so we want to create something modern and cool which is slightly different."
Purnell started off working in a hotel kitchen at the age of 14 and spent six years on an apprenticeship at the Metropole Hotel at the NEC. He also worked at Claude Bosi's Hibiscus in Ludlow as Sous Chef before helping to set up Jessica's in 2003, with local businessman Keith Stevenson. It is not yet known whether Purnell will be replaced or whether Stevenson will now sell the restaurant.
Jessica's was awarded its Michelin star in 2005, the same year as Simpsons, also in Edgbaston, picked up one too, making them Birmingham's first starred restaurants.