#008 Matt Healy - Pt 1 - From Chef to Restaurateur
Liz Ward speaks to Matt Healy, award-winning chef, restaurateur, and Masterchef The Professionals runner up.
In Part One of this interview, Matt shares his pivot journey, how he left a top restaurant in London be closer to his family, and applied to Masterchef for a bit of a laugh. There were twists, turns, and lots of points where he could have given up, yet Matt kept going. And keeps going. He has opened 3 food venues in the last two years, Matt Healy x The Foundry has won loads of awards including Britain’s Best Roast Dinner, Best City Centre Restaurant (in Leeds) and a Michelin plate.
We talk about mentors, self-belief, and what it's like to be in the public eye.
This interview comes in two parts.
Part One (this one) “Matt’s pivot journey from Chef to Restaurateur”, recorded pre-corona lockdown
Part Two - “Feeding the Frontline”, where we explore what Matt did when the pandemic forced the restaurant to close and how he is spreading joy to the frontline NHS staff with his famous Sunday Roasts.
More about Matt Healy
Award-winning chef Matt Healy has launched three venues in his hometown of Leeds in the past two years, with another venue now open in York.
Leeds-born Matt trained at Thomas Danby Catering College. He has worked at Stuart’s Wine Bar, Babylon and Livebait, before moving to Ripponden to work under Simon Shaw at the original El Gato Negro. He then relocated to London to work at the critically acclaimed restaurant Terroirs.
Matt and his team at Seventh Course have already seen huge success at their restaurants Matt Healy x The Foundry, which opened in the city’s South Bank area in 2017, and Grön Kafe in Oakwood, which launched in 2018.
After being open for less than a year, Matt Healy x The Foundry was named Best City Centre restaurant at the hotly contested Oliver Awards, and won Newcomer of the Year at the Yorkshire Life Food and Drink Awards. It also took home the title of Britain’s Best Roast Dinner and was recently featured in Harden’s food guide, the Good Food Guide and awarded a Michelin Plate.
Matt shot to fame in 2016 as a runner-up in MasterChef: The Professionals – with two-Michelin-starred judge Marcus Wareing famously describing one of Matt’s sauces as ‘one of the best he had ever tasted’.
Other links:
Donate to feed NHS Staff - https://www.gofundme.com/f/feed-250-nhs-staff
Matt Healy x The Foundry website - https://mhfoundry.co.uk/ and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/mhfoundry/
Grön Kafe website - https://gronkafe.co.uk/ and instagram https://www.instagram.com/gronkafe/
Matt’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/matty2stone/
Topics covered…
2.00 Career journey
12.00 The Masterchef journey
25.00 Opening a restaurant
34.00 High Five Moment
36.00 Biggest Challenge faced
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