THE MAN BEHIND 8
His decorating stint wasn’t to last long though and he was approached by someone who said he’d been following his career for some and wanted him to run his restaurant in Birmingham.
“At first I said I wasn’t interested but eventually, after a bit of pestering, I agreed to go and take a look.
“He took me over to have a look but I told him there and then I hated it and went home.”
Not to be deterred, the owner, businessman Sam Morgan and his wife Emma, tried again to persuade Andrew to join them.
The next few years saw him doing a variety of jobs, working at a wedding venue in Wales, agency work, until he moved to South Wales, looking for a fresh start in both his work and personal life.
“At that time I needed to find myself as a chef. I wanted to experiment and find my identity. Putting 300 components and strange combinations on a plate wasn’t needed and was just trying too hard.”
It was at this time he was approached by the producers of Great British Menu to appear on the show representing South Wales.
122 “It was really scary but I really found out who I was on that.”
With Paul Ainsworth as the judge and one of his fellow competitors a Michelin star holder, Andrew knew he had to raise his game.
“I was bottom in the starter round and bottom going into the fish course and I thought I was going home but for my main and pudding I got a 9 and a 10 and was over the moon. I’d beaten a guy with a Michelin star.
“I didn’t win overall but it gave me a massive boost just knowing that.”
The following year, in 2019, Andrew was invited back.
“It was amazing how much I’d moved on, how much I’d learned and how my food had evolved,” he said.
That time round he was awarded an impressive three 9s and a 10 and was crowned the Welsh champion.
“Now I wouldn’t want to be part of any competition. I just want to concentrate on building my own restaurant but that really got me where I am today.”
Initially being on the show got him a job offer at a restaurant down south but that didn’t end well financially for him or any of the team he took down there with him. At this point he decided to turn his back on cooking once and for all and went back to Liverpool to join his dad in a painting and decorating business.
“I was just sick of broken promises and felt I needed a complete change.”
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“I don’t know what it was, but I’d never met anyone who felt the same about food and restaurants as I did so I just thought why not.”
Between then and now a lot has happened for Andrew. He took over in November that year and muddled through the Christmas trade with a menu he hadn’t devised and which he wasn’t happy with. Then Covid struck and like everyone in the industry he needed to work out how he was going to emerge.
“I spoke to Sam and said I wanted to open another restaurant, with just 16 covers, within the existing restaurant Craft and run it alongside that.
“I wanted to do something completely different. An eight course tasting menu, no dietary requirements, just my food and a completely immersive experience like nothing anyone would ever have experienced before.”
The number 8 is significant as that was the date, back in October 2006, that Andrew first entered a professional kitchen and today it resonates with him on so many different levels and it recurs time and time again in the book, in his food and at the restaurant.
Within the first week of opening he’d been visited by numerous critics, including Michelin and food writers from the Sunday Times. That year’s Michelin guide had been completed but they did agree to list 8 as well as awarding him a coveted Michelin plate. The Sunday Times also ranked the restaurant no 6 in its top world class restaurant experiences.
“It was unbelievable really but it is just the start. We spent a fortune creating 8 and I promise you it’s like no other place you will have been to.”
As well as the v8 lounge where diners gather before eating, there is also the restaurant area and opening at the end of this month the exclusive After 8 drinks lounge opens, where only that evening’s diners are invited.
Craft and 8, at the International Convention Centre, Centenary Square, Birmingham are open from Wednesday to Saturday. For booking visit
weare-craft.co.uk or
about8.co.uk Copies of the boxed book, priced £45, are available from 8 or online from
www.awaywithmedia.com/buy-books/andrew-sheridan
WINING & DINING THE MAN BEHIND 8
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