amadeus_glorious_final

DEVELOPING TALENT MEET OUR CHEFS
The perfect
double act
Executive Chef Simon Hellier and Head Chef Aaron Johnson know
what it takes to deliver exceptional food. They work with their teams
to provide restaurant-quality food on a grand scale. We caught up
with them to find out their favourite seasonal ingredients
Simon Hellier (pictured right) has been
working for Amadeus based at the
ICC Birmingham since 1991 and has
worked his way up through the ranks
to become Executive Chef in 2011.
He is renowned for his ability to deliver
restaurant-quality food in a large scale
environment – creating drama and impact
for guests at events and banquets and
creating menus for anything from two
to 8,000 guests.
So what inspires him? “For me
I always resort back to the
fundamental rules of
cooking, without this
you are unable to
be innovative. My
inspiration comes from
art, the weather, what
I see, what I feel,
music or a smell.
All these can
help innovate
to create new
dishes, but you
have to start
with the basics.”
His most recent
innovation has been
introducing a theatrical dining experience.
This includes a multi-sensory experience where
the food is prepared and cooked in front the
guests. “Food should be part of the event
experience and we want to get closer to the
customer,” explains Simon. “Not only does it
showcase to the guests the quality, freshness
and talent of the chef ’s brigade, but it reiterates
everything we say we do – that we can serve
fine dining in large numbers.
“At the moment we are working on the
autumnal menu, which for me is all about
comfort food and slow cooking. We choose
selections of meat that take a long time to
cook but deliver the maximum flavour
– something like blade of beef (see
page 15 for Simon’s recipe) served with
British root vegetables works very well
during the autumn season. With
braised cuts we make our own
sauce using the meat juices
as it gives an intense and
natural flavour. So you’re left
with quality meat, good
vegetables and a delicious
highly flavoured sauce.
“It’s also really important
to use seasonal vegetables –
they taste best when you are using
locally grown produce in season. It’s the same
with fruit – there’s no comparison between
the flavour of strawberries grown in season and
forced – they’re like two different products.
Using seasonal vegetables is also important as
it means we can support local farmers.
We work closely with our procurement
department who are close to all our suppliers.
We also talk directly to our local suppliers and
encourage them to send us information on what
they’re producing and to tell us about what they
have coming on. Weather really can make the
difference between a good crop or early crop or
late crop so we have to keep up to date with
what supplies we may have coming in. There
are also product trends and growth trends
Dishes clockwise from top left: lobster tail and claw, ham hock
with a Scotch quail egg, tiramisu and venison parfait
“My inspiration comes from art, the weather,
what I see, what I feel, music or a smell. All
these can help innovate to create new dishes”
Simon Hellier, Executive Chef ICC Birmingham
10 GLORIOUS
AMADEUSFOOD.CO.UK 11