(Image: Supplied)
York chef Ahmed Abdalla has left the Grand hotel to go out on his own. Dylan Connell reports.
TWELVE years ago, a 20-year-old fresh-faced Ahmed Abdalla arrived in North Yorkshire from London.
He was in awe of the drive and care shown by restaurateurs in the capital and, after training at college, travelled north to discover that passion for himself. And he soon found it in the kitchens of pubs and hotels across Yorkshire.
“I remember working in a pub in Northallerton and someone would pull up with about 30 pheasants, 10 rabbits, deer – and I just thought, this is incredible,” says Ahmed, now 32. “You get the opportunity to start seeing produce very much in front of you. In a city you don’t get that.”
It wasn’t long before work followed him home, he says, recalling researching recipes and “expensive kitchen knives you don’t need” after leaving the kitchen. “That’s when it clicked – this is a career now.”
“I was raised in London but, as a chef, I think I was made in Yorkshire,” he adds.
Chef Ahmed Abdalla who has left the Grand hotel (Image: Supplied)
'You have to take the leap and back yourself' ... Chef Ahmed Abdalla in the kitchen (Image: Supplied)
He was drawn to York after admiring chefs with restaurants in the city, including Tommy Banks (of Roots), Andrew Pern (of Star Inn the City) and Josh Overington (of Le Cochon Aveugle and now Restaurant Mýse in Hovingham).
And the move came as “every changed” for Ahmed when he switched to fine dining.
He liked the “detail” and the “pressure of fine dining” but wanted more.
He started working in the kitchen at Skosh in Micklegate which has had glowing reviews since it opened in 2016. (Observer food critic Jay Rayner urged all readers to buy a train ticket to York immediately after eating there.)
Then, as venues started to reopen following the pandemic, Ahmed joined the Grand where he was tasked with bringing fine dining back to the hotel.
Legacy was Ahmed’s first head chef role – and he describes the opening as a blur.
In its first year, the restaurant won three AA rosettes then was recognised by Michelin. “It was good – really good,” says Ahmed. “There’s that stigma about restaurants within a hotel – you don’t really want to go to. It’s almost scary. But we tried to make it as hospitable as normal for people.”
Ahmed saw fine dining changing as more young people booked tables. “It’s a lovely idea for a date night,” he says.
The Grand hotel in York (Image: Supplied)
Inside Legacy at the Grand in York (Image: Supplied)
There was also social media to navigate. “You’re sat there and there could be a table of two or four all sat there with their phones out,” he says. “And as annoying as it is, this is what’s driving our revenue.”
He’s adapted to social media – particularly the fun, wow factor because people, he says, still “eat with their eyes”, even while behind their screens.
But Ahmed says he “loves the theatrics” involved with fine dining which comes in handy when rising costs mean the pressure is on to create a “proper treat” for his diners.
“I think everyone has had to adapt and think a bit smarter about the clientele they’ve got coming through the door, and about how they can appeal to everyone,” he says.
In terms of rising costs, Ahmed says increased prices mean “you have to be smarter in what you do and what you put on a menu. Rather than just as a creative chef, you have to think as an accountant – how much of this whole leek can I stretch out? I want a prime cut of that, but where can I utilise the rest of the ingredients?"
“It’s challenging – don’t get me wrong – and people are feeling it,” he adds. “And I think every establishment has got a different outlook on it.”
'You have to take the leap and back yourself'
Despite the issues facing the hospitality industry, Ahmed feels there’s no better time to go out on his own.
He’s yet to announce the details of his next project but promises to reveal everything in the coming months.
The project has been a long time in the making, he says, and the decision to leave the Grand “came to me earlier in the year. I’ve been toying with the idea for the last few years. And an opportunity presented itself with close friends of mine.”
“I’d like something similar to the people who I’ve looked up to for years,” he adds. “And you either do it now, or regret in five, six years working for somebody else.
“I think you have to take the leap and back yourself.
“I thought about it for quite some time and just thought, it’s now or never.
“Even with everything going on with VAT and prices going up, we’re always going to have issues.
“It’s this now but it’s going to be something else next year, and something else in two years. But you just have to back yourself and go for it.
“It was the most sensible thing to do – work for myself and do my own thing, rather than go start again somewhere.”
'I was raised in London but, as a chef, I think I was made in Yorkshire' ... Chef Ahmed Abdalla in action (Image: Supplied)
Will he stay in York? “Absolutely. I think I made my mind up quite a while ago. Because now I’ve done somewhat alright, in terms of my field.
“In London it was always, you were a small fish in a big pond. But up here, you can easily become a big fish in a pond. I’ve taken that and run with it.”
“I think I’ve made enough of a name here now to say I want to cement my place in the hospitality scene,” he adds. “This is home; York is home.”
As well as preparing for the new venture, Ahmed will be hosting pop-up events in York, Harrogate and Leeds in the coming months.
And he will travel to London – because he’s a finalist in the retail and hospitality sector of the Black British Business Awards for the rising star category.
“I would have loved to know who voted for me,” Ahmed says, “but it’s also nice to know that person isn’t in my everyday circle – I have no idea who that person is.”
“It’s exciting,” he adds. “And I’m hoping to represent York.
"I think everyone forgets about York when you’re down south. This is a major city now – we’ve got major players here who are now being represented in different outlets and in different things they do.”