Chefs cook up a treat on Great British Menu

Chefs cook up a treat on Great British Menu

5 May 2021

TWO local chefs flew the flag with top class cuisine in last week’s Northern Ireland regional heat of Great British Menu.

Carryduff chef Gemma Austin — who is a former student of Assumption Grammar School in Ballynahinch — was beaten in Friday’s night’s decider of the BBC Two show by Londonderry chef Phelim O’Hagan, who will go on to represent Northern Ireland in the grand final.

It was the first entry for the 29 year-old who is chef and co-owner of Alexanders in Holywood.

Paul Cunningham, chef owner of Brunels in Newcastle, was invited back to compete in this year’s competition after impressing judges last year. However, he did not make it through to show his impressive main course and dessert to the judges. 

Both chefs threw their all into devising four courses, including an appetiser and pre-dessert — based on the theme celebrating British innovation.

Hopes were high for East Down given that Dundrum chef Alex Browne Greene, from EIPIC restaurant in Belfast, got two dishes to the national final last year and narrowly missed out on being crowned champion of champions at the banquet.

Gemma’s starter was a twist on gammon, egg and chips, inspired by Kegomatic from Queen’s University students and for her fish course, the innovation shown in the building of the Titanic inspired her sea bass fish dish.

She used William Clanny’s invention of the safety lamp for miners for her main course of lamb and the influence of astronomer Alice Everett as the first woman to work for the Royal Observatory to inspire her dessert, Out of this World.

The dessert was her favourite course and she was delighted to have been scored a ten by chef Daniel Clifford. 

“I’m known for my desserts so I was really delighted to have got that score from Daniel,” said Gemma.

“I also took his advice on my main course as there’s no better person to take advice from and generally scaled back my dishes and made them more refined as the comments back were that there was too much on the plate.”

While Gemma was proud to have made it through to the regional final, she said she was not disappointed at not going through to the national judging.

“To be honest, it was a bit of a relief as I did not know how I was going to go up against all the other chefs in the national final as I have only been cheffing for seven years and am mostly self-taught,” she revealed.

Gemma went into the competition, which was filmed last November, full of confidence and determined to do her best.

“I think I just went into a zone and concentrated on my own dishes and not to get too caught up in what the other chefs were doing,” she said.

“Phelim was brilliant on the day and deserved to win and I remember saying on the programme that the better chef won. I hope that he goes on to get a dish to the banquet.”

While she has been receiving fantastic customer feedback from her popup, A Peculiar Tea, which she has been operating during the lockdowns, Gemma admitted that cooking was not her first career choice.

“When I left school I actually went to Queen’s University to do a nursing degree but a medical issue I experienced meant that I couldn’t complete it,” she said.

She then studied Bio Medical Sciences for a while before going to Ulster University to complete a software engineering degree. 

Her love of food and cooking — inspired by her chef mother — was strictly a hobby until the age of 21 when she took her first job at Slims Kitchen on the Lisburn Road in Belfast where she cut her teeth for a year while doing a Culinary Masters course. 

For four years Gemma continued studying and working full-time at a variety of great establishments, such as the Fitzwilliam Hotel in Belfast where she rose to head pastry chef, before moving The Old Inn, Crawfordsburn, where she worked all the sections and eventually became sous chef. 

She has been in Alexanders for the last two years and got the opportunity to become an owner last year.

“It may have taken my several attempts before I found the right career but I was determined not to do any job that I did not absolutely love and was passionate about.”

Like Gemma, Brunels chef Paul Cunningham hopes to be invited back next year after his disappointing showing this year.

The 35 year-old had hoped to get to the regional judging to please his six-year-old daughter, Farrah.

“Farrah and I are massive fans of the show, we watch every year and of course, I wanted to further than I did but I’ve got over the disappointment now and concentrating on getting the restaurant ready for re-opening,” Paul told the Recorder. 

Paul is known for only using local produce from within a 30-mile radius of Newcastle and foraging for herbs and plants.

His menu reflected his locality and passion for pioneers including Belfast-born Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s refloating of the SS Great Britain in Dundrum Bay — an incident which led him to name his restaurant by the great engineer.

Paul only got to cook his starter and main course on the show but said his main course and dessert were showstoppers, with the main course of lamb called Healthy Heart made without using any salt or butter, inspired by Frank Pantridge who invited the portable defibrillator.

He also collaborated with Doran Precision Engineering to create a model of the Titanic for one of his dishes and a special dish to show off his dessert, the Atom Smasher, inspired by Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell.