A POLEGLASS chef is set to cook up a storm on BBC 2’s Great British Menu this week.
Stephen Hope, who has previously won the Gordon Ramsey Scholarship and Northern Ireland Chef of the Year now owns a restaurant in Castledawson, County Derry and says that he was blown away by the whole process of the competition.
“The show has been on TV for about 16 or 17 years now and I have watched it every year from when I was about 17,” Stephen said.
“I have always thought while watching it that it is something that I would love to do. I wanted to know how I would handle my nerves and so it was amazing doing it.
“I was blown away by how organised they were as well. We had to constantly do Covid tests. They had a step by step plan of what I was doing each day, what times you were doing everything at and just seeing the whole steps that go on behind the scenes was unbelievable.”
SCHOLAR: Stephen Hope previously won the Gordon Ramsay Scholarship in 2008
Stephen believes that his previous experience as a competitive chef put him in a good position on the show.
“I think with my competition experience before with the Gordon Ramsay Scholarship and winning Northern Ireland Chef of the Year you sort of know what to expect.
“With it being televised, it is just so much more pressure as there are so much more eyes on you and you make mistakes that you wouldn’t normally make.
“It was definitely amazing to do and I would love to do it again as I know what they are looking for now. Beforehand I didn’t really understand the brief and I was trying to stick to my region, stick to using Irish produce and every dish I did had a personal link to me.”
Stephen and his wife opened their restaurant in Castledawson in November 2017 in what was previously a butchers.
“A friend of mine had taken over the butchers and turned it into a seafood bar,” he said.
“He also had a separate restaurant and found it difficult running two resturants at the same time. I bought it from him and converted it into a casual dining restaurant. We focused on quality and using good, local ingredients.
“I found it tough because we didn’t know anyone in Castledawson. None of my family are from there and none of my wife’s family are from there. I remember before we opened thinking that we were going to be mental.
“On our first night we served about 12 people which was disheartening, but now we have started to pick up and are full really every night.”
COMPETITION: Stephen Hope will hit our screens on BBC 2 from Tuesday 22 March
Stephen believes that his use of locally sourced ingredients in his restaurant influenced the dishes he created on the programme.
“Almost everything I used came from within 50 miles of the restaurant. There were a few ingredients such as pineapples that you just can’t get from here but I used lovely veal ribeye from calves that are reared here.
“I loved everything about the show and the other chefs were amazing. Out of the three others, two of them had been on the competition before and knew what they were doing.
“You could definitely tell that they had done it before as they had a bit of an edge in the kitchen.
“To be part of the programme was amazing and I can’t wait to sit down and watch it.”
Stephen will compete on the Great British Menu on BBC 2 from Tuesday 22 March at 8pm.
