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The Restaurant & The Chef
The initial concept of the restaurant was to create a self-sufficient, low investment, high quality restaurant. One that breaks the mould of the modern 'new restaurant opening' model. As such, all of the work from designing, branding, planning, carpentry, joinery, flooring, fabric work and decorating has all been done 'in-house' by the Chef & his family. We aim to harbour an intimate, modern & experimental kitchen environment with highly technical food alongside an interesting array of drinks.
As a business, we are highly invested in education and as such hope to use this restaurant as a means of inspiring others in the industry. We try our best to work closely with local College's to ensure extra curricular education can occur for their students in our restaurant. We strive to encourage individuals who are interested in the food & drinks industry at large and hope to make many connections with people from a broad range of backgrounds in hospitality. We hope that we can have a contribution to our wider community and invite people from further afield to experience the beauty that Rossendale has to offer, just a stones throw from the more cosmopolitan area's people associate with being 'food destinations'.
Our food reflects the season in which you come to dine with us, we aim to serve interesting flavour combinations, use innovative techniques and source superior quality ingredients. The menu will also include nostalgic dishes from the Chefs career so far and any inspiration for such dishes will always be credited appropriately. We work hard to source our food as responsibly as we can and implore anybody with any knowledge of great ingredients on our doorstep to get in touch via the contact page.
Our drinks list reflects drinks that we love, matching our style and taste, we endeavour to offer as much choice as possible with our drinks by the glass list which features a range of drinks to suit most tastes and budgets, as well as more premium drinks on offer by the bottle. We do not offer 'drinks pairing' per se, but do have a drinks journey available which allows you to taste a range of our best and most interesting drinks from the menu at a set price alongside your food.
Due to the independent nature and size of our restaurant, with a limited number of seats, a small team and the vast amount of time invested in creating the dishes we serve, we are currently unable to cater bespoke menu's for people with food allergies and dislikes. As we grow we hope to cater for more of these dietary restrictions.
If you would like any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.
We hope to welcome you soon,
Steven Halligan- Chef Patron
A brief chronolgy:
Chef Patron- Steven Halligan has worked in some of the most acclaimed restaurants in the North West since starting his formal career in 2012, running kitchens and their brigades alongside & on behalf of some of the UK's best chefs. His first taste of kitchen life was as a KP at his Auntie's gastropub in 2008, since then, he has had an affinity to being part of hospitality establishments.
He began his formal training as a chef at The Manchester College in Moston (having had no desire to spend extortionate amounts on university fee's for a degree that he wasn't fully interested in). On starting his study of the culinary arts,, he was acquainted with some tremendous tutors; Howard Wallace, Richard Carver, Nick Doyle & Phil Deaville (as well as supervisors Tony & Rita) to name but a few. Ten years on, these people are still a great source of support and inspiration to him. During his time at college Steven competed in a number of individual and team Cooking competitions which really gave him a taste for the higher echelons of technical cookery and allowed him to hone his competitive spirit.
In his first year of Catering College, work experience was arranged through the College, this opened the doors for Steven to work in one of the best restaurants in Manchester at the time- Room Restaurant (closed in January 2015). While he was there, he learned from some great mentors who were instrumental in his early development. One of these mentors was Head Chef James Wallis (a previous finalist in Ramsay's best restaurant UK). James taught him how to manage a section (and himself as a chef) effectively and prepare fantastic food that had great personality and imagination while combining modern & classic techniques. James also encouraged & supported him to enter the North West Young Chef of the Year competition, in which Steven eventually won 2 Greater Manchester Young Chef of The Year Titles (2014 & 2016) as well as Third place (2014) and runner-up (2016) in the Regional Finals of the North West Young Chef of the Year. Other instrumental figures in his development at Room Restaurant were his Sous chefs' Aaron, Nuno Ferreira and Chris Reeder, the later 2 of which gave him a taste for the sweeter side of cooking and really ignited a flame for creative desserts and artistic presentations as well as a good education in flavour, seasoning and produce.
In just 2 years, Steven had established himself within the brigade system and before turning 21, had earned the title of Sous chef himself under Chef Jonathan Retallick (Formerly of The Chester Grosvenor) who gave him a great deal of support. From there, he managed and progressed in multiple roles across AA-Rosette rated restaurants/hotels in Harrogate & Manchester.
Amongst these roles he became Sous chef for Simon Rogan at Mr Cooper's House and Garden (2AA Rosette, Good food Guide and Michelin Bib gourmand), a restaurant at The Midland Hotel, Manchester. There he worked for 2 years, becoming interim Head Chef for the restaurant in his final 6 months. At Mr Coopers he learned an awful lot about heritage British ingredients and herbs that are a mainstay of Chef Simon's menu development process and ethos. During his time there he gained a great deal of insight from Marcus Noack (Simon's Development Chef at the time), who really drove home the importance of being meticulously efficient and thorough in your work at all times..
Later stints on his CV include a short consultancy management role at WTLGI and a number of senior roles in independent restaurants, gastropubs and hotels across Manchester.
Early on in his career (2013), Steven also completed a stairge at The Square in London (now closed) by Chef Philip Howard, who Steven feels is one of the people in catering who has inspired him the most in his career so far.
In 2021, Steven competed and was successful in making it as a Semi-Finalist in the National Chef Of the Year (NCOTY) competition from the Craft Guild of Chefs, putting him amongst 30 best competing chefs in Britain.
Along the way, Steven has always been appreciative of the importance of education in developing young chefs and has mentored junior staff himself to compete in the North West Young Chef competitions, as well as more recently holding demo classes and workshops with local Colleges for their students to help offer some insight and mentoring.
Steven is keen to see (and taste) the culinary world and is lucky enough to have eaten in some of the best restaurants in the world including food trips to Copenhagen, Norway, New York and Ireland. All of these trips have helped broaden his knowledge of food and contributed to much of the inspiration that still spurs him on today. His Favourite chefs/restaurateurs include Rasmus Munk, Daniel Humm, Philip Howard, Brett Graham, Bo Bech, James Cross, David Kinch & Simon Benn.
He has always endeavoured to fight hard against poor treatment of employees by their employers and hopes to bring a stop to bad wages, poor work-life balance and a general animosity in the industry on the whole. He is passionate about putting a stop to the idolisation of bad role models in kitchens and restaurants who falsely profess to be helping others. His disillusionment of the wider food network spurs him on to help make it better. He hopes to bring a clarity and transparency to the way he operates his own business in order to help set an example to other food operators.
His dream was always to open a restaurant of his own and in his own words:
"This is vindication for all of the long hours under bad bosses,
managers and operators over the years and for all people who doubted
my credentials when I was, in their opinion just 'too young' to pay attention to. This restaurant has been built entirely by a chef and his ideas, people ought not to be put off following their dream by designers and builders charging extortionate amounts. There are affordable ways of achieving your goals. Read books, learn and make it happen yourself.
Hopefully, this project can become a means of inspiration
for all those people who get told 'you're too young' , 'everyone wants their own place, it'll never happen.' & 'you need 6 figure sums to open a restaurant'. None of that is true!
If this project can encourage just one person to improve on their cookery and food outlook, I will be happy."
and:
"None of this would have been possible without the support of the very few that have encouraged me.
In some ways this project is a statement to the many people, chef's and colleagues that have created huge barriers to my career development over the years. Their unforgivable behaviour only made me more determined.
I am grateful for the steadfast support from the very few who have been there through every peak and trough.
To each of them I am tremendously thankful. "
