dish. I did lamb Provençal and I did a twist
on it and I did a vanilla potato fondant, he
wasn’t too happy with it. We still have a bit
of banter about it now, I’m sure he’d agree
it tasted nice but for him it wasn’t from the
province you know, it wasn’t an ingredient
maybe associated with that dish, and
for me I guess, because it was in the
early stages I just wanted to be noticed.
I wanted to do things that were a little bit
different to make me stand out but that
comment was when I realised the power of
social media because that was just blown
all out of proportion. People were saying
“Who puts vanilla in potatoes?” Even at
the hotel at the time people were like what
sort of chef does that, literally taking the
words as gospel but we turned that around
by putting it on as a side dish so there was
like two vanilla fondants for £4 and it’s the
biggest selling side dish I think they’ve ever
had at the hotel, I’m not kidding, we’re
doing like 400 potatoes a week, the chefs
say to me it’s so difficult to make. It’s how
you twist it round into a positive and that’s
where you know you asked earlier about
my expectations of the show, I saw it as a
competition, I didn’t really see it as a media
exercise, and that’s where I guess my life
direction changed and when my direction
changed, it became a bit of a media circus.
It’s not just cooking anymore, it’s about
your USP and getting attention to what I’m
doing, I didn’t really see that before I went
12
on the show, I’ve obviously reaped the
benefits of that since the show’s ended.
Jason: When in all of that did you think
right I need my own restaurant, has it
always been an ambition as a young chef?
Steve: It’s always been an ambition,
even when I was a head chef at South
Lodge. You do look and think right wha t
is in it for me, am I just going to grow
old with the group. You always get that
feeling about the new blood coming in at
some point, and I wanted to almost look
at where I want to be when I’m 50. I know
that’s strange only being 25, but what
would I be when I’m 50, and try and do
I just continue to work for an employer?
So it was always there but without
MasterChef I don’t think I would have
done it, I think the risk would have been
too high for me to give up a well-paid job
and go out and set up something on my
own, and even now I still see it as a risk
but the thing that’s kind of pushing me
further is if I don’t do it now there’s never
a good time to do it and I don’t want that
regret. If I can’t open a restaurant after
winning MasterChef, there’s never going
to be that opportunity to do it, there’s
never gonna be a right time. I thought
well let’s just give it a go and see where it
takes me. But it has been a dream, but I
don’t want it to turn into a nightmare.
Jason: Well for the last few years you’ve
been doing pop-ups with it.
Steve:
That’s right.
Jason: I’ve had your food on many
occasions doing that, and you’ve been all
over the place with that, so what’s it like
now having bricks and mortar?
Steve: Yeah, it’s really ideal, it’s the
perfect situation for me, I really love doing
pop-ups but it went on a little bit longer
than I expected and the novelty wore off
after a year.
Even a year’s a long time but you know
there’s a lot of work that goes into a
pop-up in setting up a whole kitchen and
the location, it’s nice to go out and see
the country because that’s what I lacked
working with South Lodge. I was very
much coming into the same building every
day and I didn’t get to see the grounds and
you only see the kitchen, so for me to go
out to places like Leeds and Birmingham,
down in Devon and Blenheim Palace, were
really nice experiences to do pop-ups but
ultimately the reason for that was to get
interest in investment and to try and look at
the concept. I didn’t change the concept
from when I did my first pop-up which was
just as MasterChef was airing in December
2013 to when I did my last pop-up at the