Lisa Higginson
Rochdale chef Andrew Nutter shot to fame following the opening of his acclaimed restaurant Nutters and is fast becoming one the countryâs culinary stars. TOM caught up with him hot off the heels of scooping The Good Food Guideâs Readerâs North West Restaurant of the Year 2009 to ask him five foodie questionsâ¦â¦
1. What inspired you to go into the food industry?
Food has always been in the Nutterâs family blood. My dad, Rodney was a butcher and my mum, Jean, a home economics teacher. Myself and my two sisters used to take it in turns to cook the Sunday dinner. Whenever we saw cookery competitions in the press we used to enter them, winning lots of prizes along the way â so it was a bit of a family rivalry. I claimed the best prize a budding chef could want when Anton Edelmann, Maitre Chef des Cuisines at Londonâs Savoy Hotel, offered me an apprenticeship when I left school.
2. What is your favourite dish or food to cook time after time?
I love cooking fish, especially bril., Itâs a fish that can take on many tastes and flavours and is very versatile whether you poach it, steam it of shallow fry â herb crusted brill with salt and vinegar sauce, awesome!!
3. Who is your favourite chef/ favourite restaurant when you eat out?
My favourite UK chef at the moment has to be Tom Aitkens. My favourite Manchester restaurant is Room for consistently good food. I especially enjoy grazing through their starters. Go when it is half price for a fantastic deal. To the other extreme, my ultimate favourite restaurant is The Louis XV at the Hotel de Paris in Monaco â a truly decadent experience which holds fond memories.
4. Tell us a secret about being a chef
In food book photography, dishes often take hours to photograph. To make them look hot, cigarette smoke is blown behind them to give that all important âjust out of the ovenâ look.
5. What is your favourite cuisine and why?
I love cooking modern British food, using and eating the best of local and regional produce that is reared and grown on my doorstep.
Nutters Restaurant, Edenfield Road, Norden, Rochdale, OL12 7TT
T: 01706 650167
W: www.nuttersrestaurant.co.uk