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LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION...
BY PAUL ASKEW, CHEF PATRON OF
THE ART SCHOOL RESTAURANT
As I write this month's column I’m preparing for my second
appearance on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch, with good friend
and native of these parts, Simon Rimmer. Although my natural
place, at least the place where I’m most comfortable, is in the
kitchen, this will be my second piece of live TV this year. It’s
obviously a good thing for the profile of the restaurant but, and
of most importance to me, it’s a great opportunity to showcase
the stunning culinary ingredients we have in the region and
also a really good opportunity, on a national stage, to promote
what we’re doing with food culture in this region.
We get a brief from the producers, which to be fair is pretty
broad, and then I spend some time planning the dish for the day,
obviously it has to be in-keeping with mine and the restaurants
ethos of being seasonal and local so I’m delighted to be creating
a dish with Claremont Farm asparagus, foraged wild garlic and
watercress from Peter Jones of Wirral Watercress finished with
Southport potted shrimp. It’s been created especially for the show
but I’ll be giving everyone the opportunity to sample it at the
forthcoming Bordeaux Wine Festival.
The multi award-winning festival returns to the waterfront
from 31st May to 2nd June, inclusive, and will feature a national
Sommelier competition and Celebrity Chef food demonstrations.
I’ll be taking both the Art School Restaurant and Art School Cellars
teams down for the days, serving artisan cheese, charcuterie
and homemade breads with small plates from the restaurant. It
promises to be another great event that I hope we’ll all support.
It’s been a busy month over at the restaurant and Cellars bar for
the team and I too, we were joined by Master Sommelier and
International Brand Ambassador for the Jackson Family Wines,
Dimitri Mesnard, for our Evening with the wines of the Yangarra
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Vineyard & Byron Winery at the end of April. It proved to be one
of our most popular evenings yet, with the Chardonnay and Twice
Baked Souffle pairing proving to be one of the most popular
pairings of the evening.
These evenings are an important part of my commitment to
raising the gastronomic bar in our region. I’m happy to leverage
the reputation of the restaurant to attract the best of best to
our city and in that vein am delighted to announce that, on
Wednesday 26th June, we’ll host German Winemaker Oliver
Zeter. Oliver shares my passion for quality of produce and
describes his approach as "I want to make dynamic wines, not
static monuments. Approachable bottles of finesse, distinction
and elegance. The reds in particular should never be ostentatious
or overwhelming. My wines are intended to deepen conversations,
accompany food and shine on their own as well". It’s sure to be
another great evening, contact the restaurant for me details.
I’ll be back on the competition circuit later in the month with two
of my up and coming members of the team, Beth Disley-Jones,
17, our apprentice pastry Chef and Chef de Partie, Edwin Kuk, at
the North West Young Chef of the Year Competition. It’s a great
chance for them both to showcase their very obvious talents and
I hope they both get the result their considerable talent deserves.
Until next month!
Chef Askew