Meet the Team

Sam Harrison - Owner

My passion for the restaurant industry started at the age of 16 when I started waitering for friends catering firms. After I finished school I decided to further my interest in hospitality and completed a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management at Oxford Brookes University.

After working at Rick Stein’s Seafood Restaurant in Cornwall for four years, I moved to Australia and worked with some internationally renowned chefs as well as work on some fantastic new openings. I then returned to London and with the help of Rick and my fellow directors I opened Sam's in 2005.

Since opening Sam’s I have seen the restaurant scene in Chiswick grow into a real landmark location for diners, not only locally but throughout London. I am very proud of what we have achieved over the years - winning the 2006 Time Out Award for Best Local Restaurant and the 2008 Evening Standard Award for Best Value Restaurant in London - being just two of many career highlights!

My staff are an integral part of the business, without them Sam’s wouldn’t be what it is today.

Find out more about our team:

Shelley Windell - Restaurant Manager

Shelley has been with us since Sam’s opened and therefore knows Sam’s better than anyone - even me! Shelly has been key in establishing Sam’s reputation as a great neighbourhood restaurant. The key to this is her enthusiasm and passion for delivering fantastic hospitality and installing this in all of our team. Shelley also has a great understanding of our customers in terms of food, wine and cocktails and is always working on new ideas.

Ian Leckie - Head Chef

Our Head Chef Ian joined us as Sous Chef when we first opened. Ian was then promoted to Head Chef in September 2007 and has now very much made the kitchen and menu his own. Like my fellow owners and I, Ian believes in simple food cooked well. I am very proud of the award we won in 2008 for Evening Standard Best Value Restaurant and a lot of this was due to Ian’s ability to source great ingredients and then produce fantastic and affordable food - especially important with our set menus.

Fiona Wong - Office/ Reservations Manager

Fiona joined the team in 2006 to assist me in the office. Since then Fiona had developed to become our Office and Reservations Manager and is integral to the smooth running of Sam’s and Harrison’s! Fiona is also responsible for our website and newsletters, both of which we get fantastic feedback on and have been nominated for awards within the industry.

Antonio Salvatore

Antonio has been with us for over 2 years. Having started as a waiter and then progressing to Head Waiter, I am thrilled that we have been able to promote him to Assistant Manager. Antonio is a very natural hospitality person and has that ability to have eyes everywhere - a very useful skill in a big restaurant like Sam’s!

Celine Jeanin

Celine is the newest addition to our team and I am really excited she has joined us. Celine brings some fantastic experience from her home country of France and the last 3 years of working in London. It is always good to get some fresh eyes and ideas in our business

Rangi Hamlin - Assistant Bar Manager

Rangi joined us in 2007 and has bought his New Zealand flair to the team ever since. Rangi is a completely natural front of house person and brings a real attention to detail that is so important in restaurants. Like many Kiwis he also makes fantastic coffee!