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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Famous Recipes
- Bread & Butter Pudding
- Black Pudding Hash Brown
- Goosnargh Chicken
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Paul’s blog
Cream Egg Martini Cocktail
General Manager and cocktail expert Stuart Wilkinson created this wonderful indulgent cocktail which proved popular with diners over the Easter weekend, with great feedback from all who tried it. Here’s how you make it. What you need 25ml Baileys Irish Cream 25ml Double Cream 25ml Vodka Chocolate Syrup Caramel Sauce Creme de Curacao What you do Chill Martini glass in freezer Swirl chocolate syrup around inside of glass, then return to freezer to continue chilling. Shake the Baileys, double cream, vodka and creme de curacao with ice. Pour caramel syrup into bottom of Martini glass. Gently pour shaken mixture over caramel syrup. Garnish with mini chocolate...
Head chef Carl on our new menu
We sat down with head chef Carl Noller to ask him about the new Olive Press menu. You can view the new menu by clicking here. So what’s changed on the menu, chef? We’ve added some great new dishes, changed around some others and kept some of the favourites – it’s a menu that embodies authentic Italian cooking, but with our own spin on things and dishes that combine locally sourced produce and influences with a Mediterranean flair. The new Chorizo Scotch Egg, for example. Some of the other new additions include a couple of grills such as sea bass al cartoccio and Spatchcock Chicken, starters like beetroot cured salmon and some new pizza and pasta dishes. Which of these new dishes are diners choosing? The sea bass is proving really popular. It’s called en papillate or al cartoccio, a style of cooking food in a parcel. The dish is presented to the diner still in the parcel and then cut open at the table side. In this case the dish baked in the oven with white wine, butter, fennel, capers, new potatoes, a little bit of chilli and cherry tomatoes and a knob of butter. The butter cooks through the sea bass, steaming in its own juices and leaves you with a wonderful sauce at the end. There are some other great fish dishes on the menu – what’s most important when working with fish? There’s the beetroot cured salmon and spiced whitebait dishes on the starters, crayfish and lobster risotto, pescatore pizza and, new to the grills section, whole baked bream. That’s a great dish, cooked with...