Robyn's Kitchen

Robyn Henderson is a Long Island based private chef operating out of The Hamptons and offering services from the east end to manhattan, as well as South Florida.

Growing up in Montauk, Robyn’s mother was a chef.

“She taught me how to cook. She taught me how to buy ingredients from farms and docks in Montauk. We would get fresh seafood all of the time. I learned from my mom.”

Chef Robyn’s appreciation for food only grew larger as she joined the ranks of the restaurant industry waiting tables.

“When I moved out on my own, I wanted that home cooked food I grew up with, but I also wanted those amazing, creative dishes I saw chefs making at the restaurants I was working at. I just started cooking at home to try and replicate what I was missing from my mother’s table and using inspiration from other chefs I admired. It just evolved over the years.”

She waited tables for 14 years before starting her own business.

“I was waiting tables at this restaurant in Bridgehampton. I had hit hit off with one of my regular clients that would come in all the time. She has asked me if I could help with dinner party, just as a server. I get there and she is not showered and she is trying to cook. Her guests are coming in thirty minutes. I asked her if she needed me to take over the cooking. She was like, ‘You can cook?’ I said, ‘Yea I can cook pretty good.’ So she gets showered and comes back and the food is ready and the guests come and everybody loves it. I finally I got that taste of what it’s like to actually cook for a living and was like, ‘Wow, maybe I could do this.’ Somebody from that party hired me the next day to cook for them for the rest of the summer. At the end of the summer I started Robyn’s kitchen.”

Chef Robyn specializes in curating farm to table meal experiences that leave her clients with smiling faces, full stomachs, and lifelong memories.

“I just want to provide an experience for people that they are going to remember. And I want to make sure that everything that I do is quality. Always. I think that that comes across in my cooking and that comes across in the services I provide.”


Through cooking, Robyn has found herself as a strong advocate for supporting local farms and businesses.

“Even on my days off I’m farm hopping... It’s actually my favorite thing to do in the morning. There’s just no comparison between the products I can get five minutes from my house and the products delivered in from god knows where and picked weeks before, unripe and flavorless.
I’m supporting local industry, the food is more nutritionally dense because it’s picked at the peak of its season, and therefore it has the most flavor.”




As a professional chef for hire, Robyn strives to accommodate all of the requests of her clients. However, she can also make suggestions on substituting ingredients in dishes to include local, seasonal ingredients when possible.

“I’ll have clients ask for a caprese salad in November…When you’re used to getting caprese in a restaurant your whole life and they use tomatoes from Sysco or whatever you just don’t know any better. So I’ll suggest something like a roasted winter squash & mozzarella salad with balsamic- so they get a little of what they’re looking for but making sure we’re using what we can get locally to produce the best possible food.“

Chef Robyn’s cooking philosophy is one of simplicity. She believes the key to a good meal is,

“…the quality of ingredients and the time and care that you take to put into each dish, where you source your food from, how you cooked it, your level of skill in cooking the food, and the presentation. It’s all of those things put into one and that takes experience and time. It's not easy. It’s not something everybody can do.”


Chef Robyn finds joy in cooking for other people.

“… the big thing for me is watching people eat my food. Watching people discover flavors they’ve never had…watching their face light up when they have it for the first time. Seeing people sit down at the table and seeing what I created and watching them enjoy the meal together and having a good time. That’s really what it is for me.”



Long Island is lucky to have a chef like Robyn. A local entrepreneur that provides a great service while sourcing ingredients from local farms. #supportlocal