The Chef Patron of Liverpool’s revered The Art School Restaurant has been recognised for his outstanding efforts in hospitality
Paul Askew, Chef Patron and owner of Liverpool’s popular fine dining restaurant The Art School, and President of The Disciples Escoffier UK, has been awarded The Gilbert Lefèvre Memorial Cup for his outstanding contribution to the hospitality industry.
Presented by Sue Kenyon, President of The Association Culinaire Française North-West, on Friday 6 November, the award recognises Paul’s ongoing dedication to supporting and training the next generation of chefs as well as his devotion to classical cooking.
Sue said: “We’re delighted to award the Gilbert Lefèvre Memorial Cup to Paul. This historic award recognises the work he has done developing and mentoring the next generation in the workplace, colleges and competitions regionally and nationally.
“We see his ongoing work and commitment internationally, including as President Of The Disciples Escoffier UK, shows his love of food culture development in our great industry. This includes the Jeune Talents Escoffier, an international competition celebrating the young chefs and dining service professionals of 27 member countries, with the final taking place in Normandy 2028. We look forward to working together and supporting each other in the future.”
The Association Culinaire Française North-West was founded almost 50 years ago to provide a professional networking opportunity for chefs in the hospitality industry and catering colleges.
On receiving the award, Paul says: “I’m tremendously proud of this huge honour from The Association Culinaire Française North-West and it’s very humbling to receive it. As a chef I try not to think of accolades and awards, I instead dedicate myself to setting the highest standards and maintaining them for all my staff and to the customers we serve. Gilbert was one of a small group of inspirational chefs back in the 1970s who formed the foundations of fine-dining and classical cooking in the UK that we know today. So to be recognised by Sue and her team in this way emboldens my passion even further for supporting our wonderful industry, and to celebrate the legacy of Gilbert.”
Gilbert Lefèvre was the chef behind The French’s success at The Midland in Manchester in the 1970s, whose gastronomic principles were embedded in classical cooking. He originally joined the kitchen staff at The French back in 1962 and set out almost straight away to do away with his inherited “old boy” staff and instead train a whole new legion of trainee chefs and young apprentices – shaping them to realise his vision and also provide somewhere for a team of young working-class lads to learn an invaluable trade. By the early 1970s the kitchen was a world-class powerhouse delivering creative dishes to an increasingly switched-on clientele.
This led to The French being featured in the first ever Michelin Guide for restaurants in 1974 and it was Gilbert’s ethos which helped tell the first chapter of fine dining in Manchester which then spread across the North-West. The Gilbert Lefèvre Memorial Cup was created to recognise the efforts of pivotal figures in hospitality. It’s chefs like Gilbert and the Roux Brothers who set Paul on his own gastronomic journey early on in his career, eventually leading him to Liverpool and to create The Art School in 2014 and more recently Barnacle Restaurant and Bar.
Paul concludes: “In my youth I read New Classic Cuisine by the Roux Brothers umpteen times. To me and so many other chefs, it’s the absolute definitive writing on classic French cuisine and a seminal work which inspired me in ways I did not think possible. Their influence and Gilbert’s enduring legacy guided me deeper into classical cooking, learning the standards I discovered back then which I still set for myself and all my staff today, too. I also impart this on the next generation of chefs I work with and train, both at The Art School and Barnacle and also culinary colleges across the UK.”
Christmas at The Art School
Now is the best time to book your festival meal at The Art School.
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