Bradley Lean is the new executive chef at the Titanic Hotel, Liverpool. The 40 year-old, who trained at the renowned Dorchester Hotel in London’s Park Lane, on-board some of finest cruise liners and the man who fed thousands during the Sydney Olympics 2000, is out to make the Titanic hotel’s restaurants “the number one [food] venue in the North West within three years.
JUST two months into the job Lean said: “I’ve already simplified the food and the number of components. There are now some firm favourites and home comforts on the menu because not everyone wants to eat at the Fat Duck.”
“I want make us the number one venue in the North West and in the next three years we will be, I’m a real believer in that.
Stanley’s Bar and Grill, complete with its open kitchen, is described as ‘a theatre of food where you have been given front row seats and a chance to meet the stars beforehand.’ There is also a vegan menu.
After spells at the historic Lygon Arms in the Cotswolds and Four Seasons Toronto, Lean went to sea for two and a half years, on the Oriana and QE2.
“I was chef de partie when I was 21, going round the world,” he said. “We used to do the Southampton to New York crossing which is notoriously rough, we couldn’t use the fryers, we had to put all the storm bars on the cookers and the ingredients would be rolling all over the place, but you get used to it. It was a great experience … despite the seasickness!”
Back on dry land, he headed to Australia for the Olympics in 2000 – catering the opening ceremony, for corporate VIPs and media – before coming home to spend nine years at the Chester Grosvenor, followed by his first exec chef role at the Doubletree in Chester.
However, Lean said his time at the Dorchester ‘washing the lettuce’ prepared him for not only cooking but managing a kitchen.
“The most organised kitchen I’ve ever worked in was the Dorchester and the exec chef ran it with military precision. It was so structured, and I bought into that philosophy. The more organised you are, the less stressful it is.”
“Being able to cook is one thing but as you get higher up it’s about man management because you have to know how to run a kitchen as well.”
Titanic Hotel on Stanley Dock underwent a £36million refurbishment in 2014. The grade II-listed North Warehouse, built in 1855, was transformed into the 153-bedroom luxury hotel. The rooms are twice the size of a UK standard size hotel room.
The venue, part of the regeneration of the Stanley Dock, also hosts The Rum Warehouse exhibition and banqueting space, the Stanley’s Bar and Grill restaurant, Rum Bar and a luxury spa.
The hotel was renamed the Titanic in recognition to the city’s connection to the famous liner as well as its links to the Titanic Visitor Centre in Belfast.
