… SET A GOAL SO HIGH YOU CANT ACHIEVE IT, UNTIL YOU GROW INTO THE PERSON WHO CAN …
my story
In my family no one was a cook and we didn’t run restaurants or hotels. My grandad was a miner, so was dad.
I grown up in a culture that was very heavily influenced by the Soviet Union and where times were tough.
When they closed the mines in Komló, southern Hungary in the early 90’s, my father was forced to go back to his original trade in the building industry. Many times he worked in Austria or other parts of the country away from us, so he can earn enough money to keep up our farm animals and to provide the everyday needs for the family.
This meant that all household duties and land duties were left for my mother. My grandparents supported by looking after me and my brother or my grandad would help around the animals if needed.
We kept chickens, lop eared pigs, my grandad had a few lambs and loads of rabbits, pigeons and ducks and the odd goose. We produced our wine and brandy in the autumn from the grapes we harvested. We started the harvest on the 5th of October or the first weekend of that week - it also marked the birthday of my grandad and I.
We slaughtered the pigs in the winter and made our charcuterie of cured air dried hams, salamis and many more products that would last us for a year. We used every part of the pig, the lard was used for cooking instead of oil, the crackling you left wafter cooking the fat out was used either as snacks or mixed in bread doughs and savoury scones.
I was only 14 years old when I needed to choose a trade.
My two options were: I either become a stonemasons apprentice and carve gravestones as the rich can always afford a good Italian marble headstone or I become a very good chef as the rich can always eat. With this in mind, making headstones would be a dead good job but I choose catering as it involves eating that I enjoy.
On that summer, before going to college I went to work in an auld-folks home that was a very enjoyable introduction to a kitchen. When the college started I joined a local restaurant as a part time trainee cook where I worked for four years. Between those years I managed to spend time in other parts of the country too and to work with a Chef called Laszlo Benke - a multi Olympic gold medalist Chef who worked around the globe and trained some of the finest chefs of the country.
Next, I spent my time in Budapest in a restaurant called Trattoria Pomo d’Oro which was owned by Gianni Annoni. Gianni was a TV presenter and I met him during an interview way back in 2004 when I did a vegetable carving demonstration on the live TV. When I finished on the set he come and asked - “ do you fancy coming to work in my restaurant?” and I did and I went. I learned how to make pastas, Italian breads and pizzas and these memories and some of these recipes I still use to date. During this time I carved vegetables and fruits and sold them to hotels for buffet displays to try and earn a little extra. This is when I met Hungarys best ice carver - Zsolt M Toth - who kindly introduced me to someone in Helsinki who was looking for a chef. This is how I moved to Finland at the age of 18 where I spent 2 years prior to coming to Scotland in 2005, and I’ve not left ever since.
When I don’t cook, I bake. And if I don’t bake I carve wood or draw. I started creating wooden objects by hand in late 2015. I feel satisfied when I create something by hand let it be cooking, baking or crafting.
Awards and Shortlistings:
Numerous gold awards in Hungary for cooking and vegetable carvings
Numerous gold - silver and bronze awards in Scot Hot for cooking
Scottish Chef of the Year, bronze and best starter
Scottish Escoffier Challenge - gold 2013
National Chef of the Year - semi finalist from 2012-2015
Shortlisted for Catey’s Chef of the Year 2018
Executive Chef of the Year Glasgow and Clyde 2019
Shortlisted for Scottish Executive Chef of the Year 2019
Gold and silver at the Royal Highland Show - Scottish Bread -Championship 2019
Successfully maintained multiple rosette awarded restaurants within 5 star hotels and
lead a number of teams to get awards ranging from Best Afternoon Tea to Restaurant Awards as well
as mentoring Chefs to reach their full potential for competitions and to safely and securely move to the next steps
in their careers.
Winning Chef Mentor for Jodie Cochrane - winner of the 2020 Springboard Future Chef
Career Summary:
Director - Barnhill Farm Shop and Kitchen 2022 - Present
Senior Chef Tutor - Hub Interntional
Executive Chef - Cameron House on Loch Lomond 2020 - 2022, 5 Red Stars
Executive Chef - Grand Central Hotel Glasgow (Principal/ Voco/ IHG) 2019-2020
Executive Chef - Blythswood Square Glasgow (Townhouse Collection/ Principal/ Kimpton/ IHG) 2015-2019
Senior Head Chef - Cameron House on Loch Lomond 2014-2015
Head Chef - Grand Central Hotel Glasgow - 2010-2014 (opening team)
Head Chef - Macdonald Forrest Hills Hotel and Resort - 2007-2009