Meet the team

Our Kitchen

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The food served at Kysty has been lovingly crafted by our dedicated team of chefs. Led by head chef Dan Hopkins they have created a seasonal menu brim full of dishes inspired by the Cumbrian landscape that surrounds us.

Dishes that reflect the simple food ethos of our Chef Patron Ryan Blackburn, which is to utilise only the finest seasonal ingredients available from carefully selected small artisan producers, who grow and rear quality produce with real care and attention to detail.

We utilise Herdwick from the high fells, beef from the Solway Plain, wild game from the high Pennines, mushrooms, nuts and berries from the woods and forests that surround us, wild salmon and trout from the rivers that criss-cross the landscape and fresh fish and shellfish from the cool waters of Cumbria’s Irish Sea coast. All of which provides us with an abundant ever-changing larder to use in the dishes we create.

Dishes include garlic mushroom, with roasted hen of the woods, garlic emulsion and hazelnut, Garside’s lamb rump, with roasted broccoli, mint and anchovy emulsion and custard tart with poached rhubarb.

Kids aren’t left out either, as they will be able to enjoy their own delicious menu created using the same quality seasonal ingredients.

Chef patron

Ryan Blackburn

Chef Patron Ryan Blackburn is Cumbrian through and through, he is the third generation of his family to work in the Cumbrian hospitality industry, and it’s abundantly clear from his menus that he is a passionate advocate of the county’s produce.

Ryan gets much of his inspiration from the fells, lakes and woods of Cumbria, with Herdwick something of a speciality, but he has also sought inspiration from Cumbria’s coast. With more than a nod to the role the port of Whitehaven previously played in bringing spices, rum, sugar and molasses into the UK.

Ingredients, which found their way into many of the region’s speciality dishes, which over the years Ryan has reinterpreted and updated with his own innovative take.

During his career he has previously manned the stoves in acclaimed establishments such as Restaurant Martin Wishart and as the Head Chef at Cottage in the Wood, Whinlatter Forest, receiving a stellar review from esteemed food critic Jay Rayner.

But since 2014, this talented chef has been running his own restaurant, The Old Stamp House, Ambleside, where he keenly promotes local produce and Cumbria’s rich food heritage.

In July 2018, Ryan opened his neighbourhood eatery Kysty, also in Ambleside, offering a relaxed more informal style of menu, serving up dishes inspired by the fresh local produce available to him, focusing on flavour and Cumbrian provenance.

Over the years Ryan has garnered many plaudits; including Cumbria Life Chef of the Year, and more recently, in October 2019, when Ryan and his team were awarded their first Michelin Star at flagship restaurant The Old Stamp House.