The matrix of Bryan Leech's influences explains why there is such depth to the man's cooking and design aesthetic in Kilgraney House.
He holds a degree from London's Central School of Art and Design, and leavened the influence of his formidable mother, Mabel, a passionate and progressive cook, food producer and B&B keeper, with travels in Africa, the Far East, the Caribbean and South America. Tellingly, he mentions how the cooking of one of his favourite chefs, Michel Bras, “reflects on his childhood days”, and it's not an exaggeration to say that Leech's cooking reflects on all his life, from the kid leafing through the Hamlyn All Colour Cookery Book in search of a brandy snap recipe to the teenager eating John Howard's cooking in White's Hotel in the 1970's, to the person aiming to recreate an idyll, in a idyllic country house. That he has the confidence to let his work reflect on his life says a lot about that singular mother, who inculcated a questing, somewhat restless nature into the young man, but gave him the confidence to create the complete world that is offered to guests in Kilgraney. “She celebrates food as entertainment and, at the same time, enjoys being entertained by food”, he says of Mabel, and he does exactly the same thing, bringing identical passion to the enjoying of Michel Bras' cooking, as to the preparation of the food for his own table: entertained, and entertainer.