Great British Menu 2021 chefs: Andy Scollick, Northern Ireland heat

Head Chef at The Boat House Andy Scollick is one of four chefs representing Northern Ireland on Great British Menu 2021.

Series 16 of the competition starts on Wednesday 24th March on BBC Two at 8pm, and the Northern Ireland heat will air on 28th, 29th and 30th April. All episodes will then be available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

Andy is competing against Gemma Austin, Paul Cunningham and Phelim O’Hagan.​​​ As per the programme's new format which starts each heat with four chefs (as opposed to three in previous years), Paul was eliminated after the fish course after a tie break with Phelim. 

At the end of day 2 of the Northern Ireland heat, Phelim was once again in a tie break with Andy, but Phelim was the one to secure a place in the judges chamber as veteran judge Daniel Clifford preferred his pre-dessert.

The head chef at The Boat House in Ireland's Bangor was born and raised in the County Down town; after studying hospitality and catering at the South Eastern Regional College, he landed a job at The Salty Dog, where he rose from commis chef to chef de partie under chef Tim Brunton.

He later joined Tim at The Boat House when he moved there, served as sous-chef to Cathal Duncan when Tim left, and finally took the reins when Cathal went to work at the Marriott. 

Dishes

Starter

For his starter, 'Light Up,' inspired by William Reid Clanny's invention of a safety lamp for miners, the Clanny lamp, Andy served goat's cheese rolled in pine ash with a smoked black sesame sponge and figs. 

Although he noted some good elements to the dish, veteran judge Daniel Clifford took isssue with the sponge element and the plating, giving it a score of 6/10.

Fish course

Andy's fish course celebrated the 12th century invention of Irish whiskey. 'Uisce Beatha,' or Water of Life in English.

It consisted of steamed and butter-finished halibut wrapped in scallop mousse, served with lion's mane mushrooms, an Irish whiskey cream, sea herbs, fish stock foam and a coral tuile. Daniel awarded it a score of 8/10.

Main Course

Andy's main, '1st class meal,' was the third dish in the competition to pay tribute to the Titanic. 

He pan-fried Dexter beef fillet and served it with pressure-cooked ox cheek in a bone marrow crumb, braised oxtail hotpot, carrot purée, pommes anna and shaved truffle with a red wine jus. 

Some technical mishaps meant the dish wasn't as good as it might have been according to veteran judge Daniel Clifford, who gave it an 8/10 score.

Dessert

Finally, for his dessert, Andy created a dish to celebrate the invention of the Delorean and the film that made it famous, Back to the Future.

'Doc Brown's dark chocolate delice with Martychoke ice cream,' as its name implies, was made up of a chocolate biscuit base with chocolate crumble, aerated white chocolate and malted jerusalem artichoke ice cream topped with salted caramel chocolate crackling.

Daniel gave the dish a 7/10 score.

Full name

Andrew Eric Scollick

 Nickname 

‘The Boy’

 Age/DOB

28, born 25/11/92

 Place of birth / residence

Bangor Co. Down, now living in Newtownards

Relationship status / children

Currently engaged to my partner Rachel and together we have one daughter aged 3

Height

5ft6

Type of chef (restaurant, hotel, development chef, etc.)

Restaurant 

Favourite type of cuisine

Classical French

 Path to becoming a chef

I followed in my father’s footsteps, hospitality has been in my family for years and I feel like it was the right step for me. I started off as a commis chef; I was given formal training and progressed fast and worked my way to sous-chef within 2 years.

Past and present place of work

I started off at The Salty Dog Hotel and Bistro and now work at their sister company The Boat House Dining.

Personal and professional mentors / role models 

In my professional career I wold look up to Massimo Bottura and Ben Murphy in my personal life it would be my mother.

Guilty pleasure dish

Curry chips and cheese.

Best / worst thing about being a chef

The best thing about being a chef is the constant ability to learn new things and pushing yourself every day to be better and progressing in the industry. The worst/ hardest thing I find being a chef is the time spent away from my family but I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t enjoy it.

FeeEings  stepping onto the GBM set

Being on The Great British Menu has always been a dream of mine, so to step foot into the kitchen was amazing feeling.

Thoughts about the 'British Innovation' theme this year

I was really happy with the brief it let us chefs have a creative scope and use my imagination.

Plans for the future

I would really like to travel and work in some high end restaurants to build on my profile, learn different cuisine, skills and progress in the industry and hopefully return to The Great British Menu at some point.