About

Alex Rushmer is a chef, food writer and restaurateur based in Cambridge. He believes in creating food which is light-hearted, delicious, accessible and sympathetic to the ingredients that he works with.

In 2010 Alex appeared on the BBC's flagship cookery show Masterchef, reaching the final and finishing the competition placed as a runner-up. In addition to wowing judges Gregg Wallace and John Torode, Alex cooked for some of the greatest chefs in the world and even Indian royalty during a stage set in Rajasthan.

Upon returning to real life Alex set his heart on running his own restaurant, and opened the award-winning Hole in the Wall in the summer of 2011.

Set in the beautiful village of Little Wilbraham, nestled just outside the city of Cambridge, the Hole in the Wall held two AA Rosettes, was voted as one of the best restaurants in the UK by the Observer Food Monthly magazine, and was included as one of the top 100 restaurants in the UK by the Sunday Times in 2017.

Alex closed the Hole in the Wall in June 2017, and after two years pursuing other projects – including private dining, restaurant consultancy and a lot of eating – he opened Vanderlyle in Cambridge in April 2019, with his business partner Lawrence Butler. This small restaurant works directly with farmers, growers, producers and suppliers to create ingredient-led menus that ebb and flow through the seasons. The primary focus is on sourcing and cooking local, ethical and sustainable produce and using it to create a daily changing menu driven solely by the food that our suppliers deliver every morning. You can book a table for Vanderlyle here, using the online booking system Tock.