His career has spanned stints in Switzerland, Sharrow Bay Hotel, Ullswater, The Connaught in Mayfair, London and Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons.

At the age of 29 he opened his eponymous restaurant in Longridge, Preston. Within two years he had been awarded his first Michelin and Egon Ronay stars along with The Good Food Guide’s ‘Restaurant of the Year’. Within a week of the restaurant’s second anniversary, he was nominated ‘Newcomer of the Year’ in the Catey Awards. In the same year Charles Heidsieck Champagne Guide voted Paul Heathcotes as ‘one of the best restaurants in the world’.

The 1994 Egon Ronay Guide awarded Paul ‘Chef of the Year’ and Michelin gave him a second star, an accolade bestowed on eight restaurants in the UK, Heathcotes still being the only one in the North West and a second Catey Award in 1997 for Independent Restaurateur of the Year.

Paul has 2 restaurants: his original Olive Press Preston serving Italian grills, pizza & pasta, and Heathcotes Brasserie cooking French & British cuisine.

Paul has been awarded three Honorary Fellowships from Liverpool John Moores University, Lancashire University & his home town Bolton University in recognition of his achievements in catering.

Paul has published two cookbooks, Rhubarb & Blackpudding and Heathcotes at Home, writes columns to a number of regional newspapers and magazines and also appears regularly on TV.

Paul chairs the North’s Academy of Culinary Arts, Adopt-a-School, encouraging the traditions of his profession and is also a fundraiser for Childline & the NSPCC, Fashion Kicks and Youth Zone.

In 2009 he was awarded an MBE for his contribution to the Hospitality Industry. In 2013 he launched Heathcote & Co, a new events and outside catering company that has so far catered for, amongst others, the prestigious Manchester International Festival and is the official caterer of Bolton Wanderers FC and Bolton Whites Hotel.

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Tips and tricks for the Kitchen – Day Two

by | May 14, 2013 | Paul's Blog

Why the customer is always right.  I have always answered 99 per cent of our customer feedback, whether they are letters of compliment or of complaint, and recently we had a couple of adverse comments regarding our Heathcotes burger in the Olive Press. I found it difficult to understand as it seemed that we were doing all that we had done previously. Nonetheless, this was a good opportunity to revisit ourpast recipes and through a lot of hard work and a lot of tasting, we have changed our burger recipe, which has inspired me for today’s tip. The product or the ingredient is always the most important but sometimes what you do with it can then make a difference. If you want to cook a steak – or a burger, for that matter – brush with a little oil, season with salt and pepper, then cook on a hot pan and fry on one side only until near the end, before finally turning over to cook the other side of the meat. Cooking mainly on one side in a smoking hot pan is the key. Here’s some guidelines for timing: Blue: 90 seconds, flip over for 30 seconds Rare: 2.5 minutes, flip over for 30 seconds Medium Rare: 3.5 minutes, flip over for 30 seconds Medium/Well done: 4.5 minutes, flip over for 30-60 seconds And finally, here is the second course for our June 5th wine evening featuring Fiona Beckett: Scallops “just cooked” with lime and caviar Tomorrow, another tip and another course, and I will let you know what Fiona matches with this at the end of the week. In the meantime,...

Tips and tricks for the Kitchen – Day One

by | May 13, 2013 | Paul's Blog

Many are fascinated by how menus are compiled; what we sell, how we cook and prepare enough for each day – hopefully without running out. Well, I can tell you – it’s no secret – we occasionally do run out of certain dishes. But after a while, you build up an understanding of what sells and what is slow or less popular. It’s also useful to have a number of common ingredients on dishes so if, for example, you buy a box of wild mushrooms, you might feature it on two dishes but in fact you use it on three or four dishes, including a starter, not always naming the ingredients in the dish. So here’s today’s tip for any budding amateur cooks: If you have ever made a sauce and you’ve added enough salt and pepper but it still doesn’t taste right, try adding a few drops of lemon juice. We all know what lemon juice does to your palette – just try licking a lemon. So how does this work? That little bit of acid that you’ve added to your sauce changes its characteristics and livens your taste buds. It’s a tip I learned from Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons. Finally, on the 5th of June, we have one of the the UK’s finest food & wine matchers and author of 20 books, Fiona Beckett, as guest speaker on our Wine Evening. I’m looking forward to working with her again and over the course of this week, she will be matching wines to go with a five course meal. Our starter features burrata, the king...

St. George’s Day

by | Apr 11, 2013 | Paul's Blog

I remember my first few years at catering college back when I was 17. The restaurant business looked very different back then. English cooking had a very poor reputation; all-day breakfast was the highlight. In those days, to try and think of any British chef would stretch most diners’ imagination. How things have changed. These days, if the general public was asked to name a celebrated or well-known chef, the chances are the same names would repeat over and again, and the vast majority of them would be English. So I think it only fitting that our St. George’s Day menu pays homage to some fine English chefs. I’ve had the pleasure of eating all of these dishes at some time or other during my career and I think they are truly worthy of a St. George’s Day menu. You can view our special menu below, and book online by clicking here. Menu Cream of tomato, apple & celery soup ‘Miller Howe” (v) Heathcotes black pudding with sweetbreads, bay leaf & baked beans Parsley pie “George Perry Smith” (v) Marinated salmon “Sharrow Bay” *** Roast scallops, pea puree with mint “Rowley Leigh”, tomato & gem salad Faggots & mash “Gary Rhodes” Goosnargh duck, cider potatoes, baby turnips & carrots, caramelised onion puree Wild mushrooms on toast, poached egg, wild garlic “Terry Laybourne” *** Chocolate tart with honeycomb ‘Bruce Poole”, malted milk ice cream Heathcotes bread & butter pudding Plate of Lancashire cheese Treacle tart “Heston Blumenthal”, vanilla cream *** Coffee & mini Eccles cakes  ...