We chat to Executive Head Chef at The Municipal Hotel & Spa, MGallery Liverpool to discuss The Seaforth Restaurant, alternative careers and unusual ingredients…
Hi Andrew, have you always been a fan of cooking, at what age did your interest start?
Throughout my childhood, cooking wasn’t really an interest of mine! I spent my time either playing lots of football with friends or doing handy work for people to earn a few pounds. My mother was a great home cook, and I must say I was always treated to a delicious Northern tea (dinner to anyone else in the country). It was in my teenage years that my passion for cooking really started to evolve.
How did your culinary career start?
I started working in a kitchen in my hometown of Glossop when I was 15. I started with a pot washing job three nights a week after school. This soon changed into helping the chefs and then eventually being allowed to make the pizzas, salads, and prep the vegetables.
You’ve certainly worked your way up the ranks! Tell us more about your current role.
My current role is Executive Head Chef of The Municipal Hotel & Spa, MGallery Liverpool, which is my first role in the city. I have now been an Executive Head Chef for nineteen years, largely working in Manchester before heading down the M62. In this role, I lead a great team of young chefs to operate The Seaforth Restaurant, The Palm Court Bar, Botanic Afternoon Tearoom along with many events, including weddings in our Weightman Suite. This role is one of the most enjoyable roles I’ve had to date; the team I work with everyday are such a joyful and positive bunch. Although the role can be quite demanding it fills me with pride to head up such a great venue and work with such a fantastic team.
Sounds ideal. What’s your favourite thing on The Seaforth Restaurant’s menu?
We have some brilliant dishes on the restaurant menu that work as great crowd pleasers. Our ‘Scouse’ is our bestselling iconic dish, although not a typical stew dish as you would normally find, it’s way more refined, elegant, and reimagined. We use the Cannon of a Herdwick Lamb that takes minutes to cook – it melts like butter when you slice it. We serve this with braised red cabbage that’s cooked with sweet apples and confit shoulder of lamb that’s rolled and baked. We also make potato and swede pearls from slow baking the vegetables and cooking them in a vegetable emulsion. This is all then strategically placed onto a plate with some carrot puree and a homemade lamb sauce poured at the tableside.
Delicious! How would you describe your cooking style?
I like to lean on classic dishes with a modern cooking style showcasing each dish with elegance. I really like my dishes to be great to look at but equally very tasty.
What’s the strangest or most unusual ingredient you’ve worked with?
An old dish I used to cook was a Tom Yum Soup with crocodile dumplings… at the time this was very strange to me!
Has anyone influenced your cooking career and what’s the biggest lesson they taught you?
When I was 24,I went to work for David Gale in Manchester, he had a huge reputation in the North. His leadership skills and management qualities have had such a big impact on how I operate today. I think these qualities have helped chefs who have worked for me, due to the training I had from him, and I hope this continues and people feel the same way about me!
If you weren’t a chef, what career would you have pursued?
When I was younger, I really wanted to join the police, until it dawned on me that maybe I wouldn’t be so popular, so that soon changed my mind. I really think I would have liked to work in healthcare too; I like the feeling of helping others and people depending on me for help.
Final question. What would be your last ever meal?
One hundred percent a fillet steak diane from a back street Italian restaurant cooked to perfection – medium rare – with some vegetables and garlic roasted potatoes.
