Chef of the Week: Nathan Booth, Head Chef of Love Lane Brewery, Bar & Kitchen in Liverpool
How long have you worked at your current restaurant?
I have worked at Love Lane Brewery Bar and Kitchen for one year.
Where did your passion for cooking come from and where did you learn your skills?
I was brought up within the industry with my mum being a waitress and my uncle being a chef travelling the Mediterranean. I think my passion for cooking comes from watching my nan cooking home comforts and now I want to turn them into restaurant worthy dishes. I learnt my skills at Liverpool Community College in their Culinary Department.
What do you enjoy most about being a chef?
I love the fact that this job can take you around the world, cooking in the best kitchens but also taking you back to just cooking on fire with the simplest ingredients that the land can give you.
Name three ingredients you couldn’t cook without.
Salt, garlic and butter for me are the three main ingredients in every kitchen.
Which piece of kitchen equipment couldn’t you live without?
My knife!
What food trends are you spotting at the moment?
At the moment, I am noticing that dishes from the 90’s/early 2000’s are coming back into fashion along with the old classic red line rim plates. This is just simple looking dishes done very well and executed to the highest standard.
What is your favourite time of year for food, and why?
Spring, it’s just the best time of the for incredible ingredients, especially foraging. Wild garlic, asparagus, truffles, morels, three corner leek etc.
Which of your dishes are you most proud of?
I love cooking with Welsh lamb. My favourite dish is a lamb saddle loin, lamb belly, hen of the woods puree, and finished with lamb jus and wild garlic oil.
How do you come up with new dishes?
Nowadays, it’s seeing dishes on Instagram or eating at restaurants that I think will push me or influence me.
Who was your greatest influence?
Ferran Adrià.
Tell us three chefs you admire.
Gareth Ward, Gordon Ramsay and Nathan Outlaw.
What is your favourite cookbook?
Restaurant Nathan Outlaw.
Who do you think are the chefs to watch over the next few months?
Corrin Harrison at Restaurant Gwen and Richard Nuttall at Restaurant Next Door.
What’s been your favourite new restaurant opening of the last year?
Dan McGeorge at Restaurant Vetch.
