Chef focus: Steven Urquhart, Kitchen mastro at Mal

I am from Liverpool, but I have been living in Aberdeen for over 8 years now. Most people would describe me as humorous with a dry sense of humour.

I’m married and have three beautiful children, so, like many working parents, most of my free time seems filled up with kids’ activities. I enjoy watching my two boys play football on Sundays, when we can. My wife and I like going out locally for some lunch and we try to visit our family in Liverpool as much as possible. Like most kids of my generation, I wanted to be a footballer. Then, entering my teens I wanted to be a DJ. I’m still passionate about football and I’m a big Liverpool fan, naturally! 

When I was growing up I vividly remember my uncle’s restaurant. The atmosphere there was electric. The food was amazing and when I looked into the kitchen seeing how busy and organised chefs were, that inspired me to become a chef one day. I always wanted my own restaurant. It’s still my ambition, now.

The best thing about working at Mal are the people. We have a fantastic hard working team behind the scenes. You spend the majority of your time with them and even though it’s fast-paced, challenging and demanding, we always find a way to break the tension, enjoy the shift and smash each service out the park. I’m really lucky to have a job where there’s nothing about it that I don’t love. 

The food at the Malmaison is no nonsense, made with great traditional methods with some modern influences – nothing beats seasonality and well balanced food! My own favourite is our Tuna tartare starter, with avocado, mango salsa, black sesame, soy and lime, pickled ginger, wasabi and avocado whip. It’s a mouth-watering, must-try dish. Though if I could have dinner with anyone, I’d be chatting to Denzel Washington over a plate of roast leg of lamb with all the trimmings.

We have a great reputation with our local customers, who are always looking for something special. That’s why we offer a wider range of steaks from Donald Russell, which are prepared on our Josper Grill and we offer delicious specials to showcase the best seasonal ingredients. 

The Josper Grill originated from Spain, it is an amazing piece of equipment combining a high temperature oven with a chargrill, which allows the meat to get that delicious caramelised colour on the outside whilst still remaining succulent on the inside. We use odourless, smokeless charcoal and briquettes in our Josper which also gives that BBQ flavour to the meat. We also apply our secret rub to our steaks to make them taste even better!

Malmaison Hotel Aberdeen
49-53 Queens Road, Aberdeen AB15 4YP
malmaison.com