Average is not something we offer at Bowcliffe Hall, especially when that something has to do with guest experience and hospitality. So a sublime foodie experience, whether creating a bespoke menu for an event or wedding, or enjoying one of the seasonal, locally sourced changing daily specials in the Drivers’ Club at lunchtime, is a hugely important part of the Estate offering.
This month, we spoke to Executive Chef Andy Lawson, the man in charge of making the magic happen in the Bowcliffe kitchens. We grilled him on teaching Prince Charles how to make pasta, the importance of eating seasonally, his love of scaling rockfaces and whether he believes it’s sacrilege to cook a steak well done…
Name:
Andy Lawson
Position:
Executive Chef
Have you always loved food and at what point did you decide that you wanted to make a career in food?
I still have my very first cookbook that was given to me on my 10th birthday, so that must tell you something! From a very early age I used to watch my Gran cooking up lunch for the family, I remember it always tasted amazing. I began my career as a chef 21 years ago, I began as a pot washer before progressing to vegetable prep and then finally I was asked if I’d like to join the team full time. I’d had a taste of a chef’s life and I was hooked!
What does a day in the life of Andy Lawson look like?
I have two boys aged one and five, which means we are always up early! After sending them off to school and nursery, I set off to Bowcliffe. I do my supplies for the day (food deliveries, sorting paperwork) and then the fun begins!
I love popping into the Potting Shed to see what Anna has got ready for me to harvest. After preparing for lunch and cooking some lovely dishes I reset the kitchen for the next day and take the time to my suppliers and producers about what is looking good and what I want to order.
Once the kitchen is set for the next day, I like to head to The Depot in Pudsey, it’s one of the best indoor climbing walls in the UK. I’m getting some practice in for an upcoming competition I’m entering… wish me luck!
I can also be found on a Monday evening racing go-karts in Leeds, I always wanted to be a race car driver!
Talk us through your career history to date. Where have you worked and what have been the highlights?
I started as a commis chef at Monkmans Bistro before moving to Salvos Italian restaurant in Headingley. Then I was offered an amazing job at The Langdale Chase in Windermere and that took me onto the Borrowdale Gates in Keswick. From there I joined the team at the Angel Inn at Hetton and their sister restaurant The General Tarleton.
I went travelling to broaden my culinary experiences and in Australia I worked in some amazing places. One job had me cooking for 5,000 people at an event in Darling Harbour and I also ended up on the team cooking for the England cricket squad at Fox Studios! I then travelled to Malaysia, which has had a big impact on the way I cook and eat.
I took my first head chef role when I joined the newly formed Jones Bar Group, a great independent family business. We purchased a wine bar in Horsforth for £1 but it came with £250k of debt, it didn’t take us long to turn that debt into profit and after 7 years of trading I was overseeing five different food and drink serving venues across west and north Yorkshire.
I was lured and became head chef of Malmaison hotel in Leeds before becoming a chef/tutor at Bettys Cookery School, a purpose-built venue for 18 people to come and learn the tips and tricks of the trade.
And now I’m here at Bowcliffe Hall, ready to bring all my experiences and continue to share my knowledge.
What do you love most about being a chef?
Being creative. The ability to create great tasting plates of food that take in the best of the season’s produce, and make them look as good as they taste.
What made you want to make the move to work at Bowcliffe?
One visit to Bowcliffe Hall is enough to make your jaw drop, the kitchens have been given the same thought and attention to detail as the rest of the Estate, so it didn’t take long for me to sign up, the kitchen gardens had a big appeal to me, it doesn’t get much more local, organic or seasonal when you’re harvesting the food yourself!
You’re a Yorkshire boy through and through, what do you think the food scene is like in the region?
I love the food scene in Yorkshire, I feel blessed to live in such an amazing part of the world that gives us the best rhubarb and asparagus as well as all the skilled farmers handrearing some interesting and rare breed varieties of livestock.
What is your guilty food pleasure?
Curry. Living close to the curry capital of the North (Bradford!) I really enjoy going out and trying all the traditional and regional style dishes, but I also cook an amazing curry too!
Pudding or cheese board?
Cheese board all the way, at Malmaison my cheese trolley featured no less than 25 different cheese from all over the world. Some of my favourites are; Gabriel blue, a soft salty blue cheese matured in a real cave near Preston!
- Tomme Sauternes – a hard French cheese washed in Sauternes for a sweet nutty flavour
- Chabichou – a soft goats cheese with a slight bloom on the rind, very tangy as the flavour changes through the seasons with the goat’s diet.
- Stinking Bishop, a bishop pear washed cheese, very very smelly but tastes amazing, made famous by Wallace and Gromit!
- 2 year aged Comté, an alpine cheese that takes the flavour of the wild flower meadows that cattle graze on
Which chefs are you most inspired by and why?
Marco Pierre White being a local Leeds and Yorkshireman is an obvious choice. His attention to detail and achieving 3 Michelin stars by the age of 33 is an inspiration to all chefs.
Richard Horne was my first head chef at Monkmans Bistro, without his passion, guidance and patience I would never have become the chef I am today. I’m still in touch with him and he never lets me forget how I ruined a side of beautiful smoked salmon trying to slice it for the first time!
Is there a specific cuisine you prefer to cook?
I love to cook food with an Asian influence as the balance of sweet, sour, salt and spice must be perfect for the dish to work.
What would you say your most impressive achievements have been both personally and professionally?
I have been lucky enough to cook for a wide variety of people in some amazing locations; I’ve taught Prince Charles how to make pasta, I’ve cooked for the England cricket team, I have catered for and got the chance to meet the Manchester Utd first team. I was part of the team that catered for the Tour de Yorkshires Grand Départ meal in Harrogate, where I got to meet all the previous winners of the Tour de France.
Personal achievements have to be my two boys; they are a lot of fun and growing up too fast. A close second is winning driver of the day at the Silverstone Circuit in a Porsche GT2.
What are your ambitions for Bowcliffe Hall’s dining experiences?
To make the Bowcliffe dining experience simply the best in Yorkshire, either in the Drivers’ Club or for a formal dinner, you can expect only the best local sourced seasonal food with a quirky twist.
If you could create any three-course (or alternative) meal what would it be?
For canapé: gin and tonic sorbet
For starter: Yorkshire tea smoked duck, with lime and ginger watermelon and sourdough croutons
For main course: Confit lamb, cauliflower puree, fondant potatoes, Sand Hutton asparagus spears and a nice rosemary sauce
For pudding: classic lemon tart with raspberry sorbet
Port and cheese course
Be honest, how mad do you get as a chef when you have to cook steak ‘well done’?
Not at all, it’s actually harder to cook a steak well done and keep it moist than it is to quickly sear a rare steak. My top tip for any steak however you like to eat it is let the meat rest for 50% of the cooking time. My perfect steak is from Dexter beef, it has to be a dry aged rib eye on the bone
What is your favourite or most treasured piece of equipment in the kitchen?
Two pieces of kit I always take with me are my Wusthof chefs knives and a Spyderco sharpmaker which is an unusual sharpening stone that keeps my knives scalpel sharp!
Is sourcing locally important to you?
It’s the foundation of my menu writing. The seasons should dictate what and when we eat – serving strawberries in December is just wrong!
If we eat food grown in season it tastes better and costs less.
Favourite dish on the Drivers’ Club menu?
I’d have to pick any one of my daily changing specials from the blackboard!
Favourite part of the Bowcliffe estate?
The Blackburn Wing is an amazing place, from the runway entrance to the propeller-shaped door handles; the attention to detail is amazing.
Tell us three things we would never know about you…
- I am not a fan of deep water; I’m terrified of sharks!
- I can’t stand egg mayonnaise, but I love eggs and mayo independently
- I’m really terrible with technology. If I can’t chop it or cook it then I’m probably not that great with it.
Why should foodies dine at Bowcliffe and hold their events here?
Because we have an amazing team dedicated to providing the best of the best in hospitality, and we can turn your wildest dreams into an unforgettable reality
