At 16, Robert left home to begin his five-year apprenticeship with the Savoy Group in London as part of a Thames Valley University program. In that memorable first year, the aspiring chef peeled hundreds of onions by day, and volunteered by night at Jean-George Vongerichten’s Vong restaurant in the Berkeley and 2 Michelin star La Tante Clair at the hotel where he apprenticed.

Following a few gigs after graduation, Reynolds migrated to the highlands of Scotland to work at the self-sustaining award-winning Monachyle Mhor Hotel and then across the pond to the Keltic Lodge Resort & Spa on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. In 2003, the “slower, easier” life of Canada’s Atlantic shore wooed him to Halifax to plant roots. “I’m inspired by what’s around Atlantic Canada but there’s so much bounty. The seafood is amazing; it’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced.”

Robert worked as chef de cuisine at the Cunard centre in Halifax catering for some of the largest events east of Montreal. After a few years Robert had the opportunity to open a restaurant in Halifax, that restaurant was later to be known as Edna, top 10 new restaurants in Canada 2014. After successfully creating a Halifax staple, Robert went back to his hotel routes to become executive chef at Liscombe Lodge Resort on the eastern shore of Nova Scotia, which led him to the Westin Nova Scotian as restaurant chef. Following a successful stint at the Westin, Rob relocated to Fredericton where he launched his vision for an upscale hotel restaurant – Maxwell’s Steak & Seafood