Michelin's 5 criteria for awarding stars #michelin

My vision!

Everything is different. I have created my own rules, wether you like it or not.

My food is a reflection of my imagintion. This is my world.

There's no exclusive time for creativity, it's made day to day.

Constancy and consistancy. The worst day must have a note of 9.75, the best one of 10. There is no other margin.

Critiques are difficult but you assume it when you are closed to the boundaries.

My cuisine? Rabid, forefront, traveller cuisine based in creativity and imagination.

There are no lukewarm flavours, no kind concepts. This is totally a roller coaster.

You should always do different things so there exists a feeling of fun and surprise.

Passion for cooking, definitely. There are other passions but they are a far cry from cooking..

Something from 1995.

Most chefs can only dream of running their own restaurant because of the huge capital investment needed. But Paul Walker, head chef of the Mariner's Cavern restaurant at the Wirral's Yew Tree Hotel, has found a way of realising his ambitions.
Walker has taken on the contract to run the restaurant, leaving owners Ray and Dilly Arnold free to market their 23-bedroom hotel.
The Arnolds had been running the Yew Tree Hotel for 16 years when, in 1993, they opened the Mariner's Cavern in the basement. Walker was later appointed as head chef.
A year on, the Arnolds offered a three-year restaurant lease with an option to renew to Walker's parents - newcomers to the restaurant business. "It was an ideal opportunity," says Paul Walker's father David, now joint-proprietor with wife Carol. "Paul had been here for some time, so he knew the market."
The lease agreement states the Mariner's Cavern is responsible for serving breakfast, and about 60 are served each week from 7am to 9am. Walker says hotel guests make up about 20% of covers, an average of 45 a day (15 for lunch, 30 for dinner).
The 40-seat bistro-style restaurant offers: à la carte; table d'hôte (£13.50 for three courses); daily specials; business lunches (£5 for two courses including tea or coffee); and traditional Sunday lunch (three courses for £7.50 including a glass of wine).
The à la carte menu changes about three times a year, with the most recent introduced in March.
Although Walker has been at the Mariner's Cavern for two years, he says he now works harder to reduce food costs. "The new menu has been designed with that in mind," he explains.
So chicken, guinea fowl and duck breast, which feature separately, are combined into a terrine garnished with broccoli and cauliflower florets marinated in a tarragon vinaigrette (£4.50).
The confit of duck leg with a red wine sauce and creamed shallots (£4.35) was introduced to allow Walker to buy whole ducks. Roast breast of duck with honey and sherry vinegar sauce (£11.50) uses the breast, while the carcass is used for stock.
Walker gets inspiration from books and admits the duck, rack of lamb and red mullet main courses are adaptations from John Burton-Race's Recipes from an English Master Chef (Headline, £19.99).
Stir-fried king prawns, garlic, ginger and bacon, garnished with a timbale of Basmati rice (£5.30) is one of the most popular dishes." My customers particularly like food with Oriental influences," he says.
Last month Walker introduced the first in a series of monthly gourmet evenings. The opening menu (five courses for £19) took a Japanese theme.
Dishes were designed to be acceptable to western palates. Sashimi (finely sliced fillets of fish marinated in Sake, soy sauce and wasabi), was westernised with celery, red pepper and spring onions in a lemon dressing.
Back of house, Walker is assisted by second chef Jon Bentley, who spent seven years in the Army Catering Corps. As Bentley's work experience has spanned countries including Bahrain, Kenya, Iceland and Canada, and Walker's includes Bermuda, the duo should not be short of ideas for their next gourmet evenings.

Tonights tantalisingly tasty treat for the tastebuds on this terrific Tuesday............@ #paulsplayground.................Cod fillet galzed with hoi sin & orange, carrot/ wasbi pea jam, tomto/pineapple chutney, roasted red pepper, spicy pickled onion

Sour Cherry yoghurt, fruits (pineapple, orange, cherry, pear, apricot, peach), vanilla, lemon + dark brown sugar galze. #dessert #paulsplayground  

 

And so for this evenings dinner we have......Slow cooked Pork shoulder in a celery/ chorizo/ smoked bacon broth with garlic + Chilli. Garnished with mussels and broad beans. #paulsplayground #afantasyinfood

And for dessert.......Butter fried golden syrup cake, quenelles of cottage cheese + honey, bubblegum syrup and vanilla custard. #paulsplaygraound #experimenting

Starting the week off with a healthy breakfast of Waffles, fruit, yoghurt, cottage cheese and maple syrup. #paulsplayground.

 A little light lunch @ #paulsplayground..........Prawns Pil Pil (a Spanish sauce of Olive oil, garlic + chilli), pear, Serrano ham and heritage tomatoes.

Grilled Lamb chops, chilled garden pea mousseline, wasabi and mint glazed potatoes, tomato/ pineapple chutney, basil jus. Dinner @ #paulsplayground. 

Chilled bitter chocolate rice pudding, Lemon curd custard, Lemon meringue ice cream, mint + orange., #dessert #paulsplayground

Paying homage to my North American friends with Saturday breakfast @ #paulsplayground........Smoked Bacon/ Linconshire sausage/ Scrambled eggs/ Waffles & maple syrup.

#paulsplayground...............Tonights dinner is the Italian classic of Spaghetti Pepperoncino with not so classic addition of fresh basil. This is quite simply Spaghetti/ olive oil/ garlic/ chilli and parmesan cheese.

And for dessert @ #paulsplayground.........Jamaican ginnger cake/ nuttella & ricotta. Cauliflower/ white chocolate + honey puree (which tastes like pureed rice pudding). Chocolate fondant ice cream, maple syrup and a chiffonade of mint. #experimenting #afantasyinfood 

This evenings culinary madness and malarky @ #paulsplayground ......Tuna/ broad beans/ mint/ extra virgin olive oil/ heritage tomatoes/ living salad. Finished with bacon and onion crunchies. #experimenting #afantasyinfood

Another view of this evenings culinary craziness. #paulsplayground #cuisineoftheimagination

Found some great produce in #Lidl today. A punnet of living salad and a tray with three varieties of baby heritage tomatoes. —

 A new batch of Kimchi underway.

Tonights culinary craziness @ #paulsplayground Pangasius/ Sherry Vinegar/ Peanut/ Brocolli/ Chilli. Rich Tuna and tomato ragu. #afantasyinfood.
 And I didn't mention the celery.

Creating the uniquely unexpected. Spontaneous, off the wall and totally outside the box. This is how I perceive myself as a Chef.

 Grilled seabass, white chocolate, basil, cabbage and whole grain mustard. Totally weird but a great seller.

Paul Walker is a Chef with extensive experience in the restaurant business, a Chef whose philosophy is that food should be in a continuous state of development and evaluation. Paul is not a Chef who creates a great dish and then continues to make it over and over again for the next thirty years. Paul would like to be seen as a synonym for a movement and hopes that he will become a landmark Chef who is always evolving, a Chef who always has new dished that are worth mentioning.

The food of Paul Walker is serious; fun. My food is free to roam in whichever direction. If there is no immediate smile as we create a new dish then we are on the wrong track. I want guests to be surprised and delighted, to wonder what ingredients we have used and how we made it. It should be an adventure!

So tonight I've been playing with my food again. Starting the development of another new dish. ‪#‎paulsplayground‬ ‪#‎experimenting‬ This is Salmon in a rich tomato/ mushroom fondue, new potatoes, pea mayonaise & balsamic glazed cucumber. ‪#‎afantasyinfood‬

Tonights concoction/ work in progress @ ‪#‎paulsplayground‬ Mackeral pate, pate of aging mushrooms, tomato/ avocado broth, wasabi/ lemon cream. And (not shown), garlic and ginger toasts. ‪#‎experiment‬ ‪#‎afantasyinfood‬

#‎paulsplayground‬ Tonights dinner. Lambs liver ragout with coconut water, pineapple, garlic and ginger. Roasted red pepper stuffed with mushroom + seaweed braised rice. Carrot/ pea puree. Wasabi yoghurt and a crumble of salted edamame and wasabi peas.

Mackeral fillet marinated and glazed in soy, lime, honey, ginger, garlic, scallions + muscovado sugar.Accompanied with Lime + mustard mayo, kimchi, Russian salad and toasted sesame seeds.

Tonights dinner @ Pauls Playground. Confit of carrot, mushroom, potato and mini sweet peppers. Pickled white onion + breakfast radish. Compote of forest berries/ ginger/ garlic/ brown sugar + mirin. Finished with mustard oil and finely chopped scallions. ‪#‎experiment‬ ‪#‎afantasyinfood‬

Todays lunch @ ‪#‎paulsplayground‬. REVERSE FRIED PANGASIUS. A fillet of Pangasius is lightly batoned out, brushed with olive oil, lemon juice and Himalayan pink salt and left to marinade for an hour. It is then placed on a hot plate and garnished with slivers of celery + tart apple, diced red chilli and chopped chives. Some very hot corn oil is the drizzled over the to finish the cooking. Lastly it is sprinkled with some roasted and ground Szechuan pepper. ‪#‎experimenting‬ ‪#‎afantasyinfood‬

Raid the Fridge salad! Mackeral, leftover confit potatoes + mushrooms, radishes + onions pickled in white balsamic and tandoori spices, yoghurt, tomatoes and roasted breadcrumbs. ‪#‎paulsplayground‬