Yorkshire to test his talent and ambition in London. But he decided to keep his flat in the Pennine village of Rishworth.
It was in 1999, when head chef at the Fourth Floor at Harvey Nichols, Leeds, that he went to run the store's new London operati
on, Prism.
The following year came the big one: he was appointed executive head chef at the Fifth Floor Restaurant in Knightsbridge.
Contrasts rarely emerge as sharp, but three weeks ago the cook to the Sloane set returned to the rural Ryburn Valley to open a restaurant and tapas bar in the sort of pub you wouldn't normally offer a second glance.
Some weeks ago, I remarked that Ripponden was a place to watch. It is now. Within a two-mile triangle are clustered three of the most interesting chefs in Yorkshire: Glen Futter at the Millbank, Scott Hessel at the Old Bore and now Shaw at the Junction.
In fact, the valley is speckled with eating places, from a Mongolian café and a Javanese coaching inn at Sowerby Bridge, to the design statement Travellers' Rest at Sowerby village and Ripponden's ancient pork pie pub, the Bridge.
So it's reasonable to ask whether there is space for yet another born-again boozer offering confit of pork cheeks, beetroot carpaccio, pumpkin risotto, mustard-roasted skate wing, pancetta-wrapped scallops and parmentier of oxtail and black pudding.
Like the Junction, plenty of places within driving distance are doing modern dishes of this sort. Shaw is a useful cook, but man does not live by carpaccio alone and one might fear for his future if this were to be his sole repertoire.
It's not. He's got something else up his sleeve: a black cat. Of Spanish breed: El gato negro.
The Junction may be a fine-dining restaurant but it's also a tapas bar and, since black cats bring luck, this one may prove to be its most potent draw.
Tapas is now offered in the bar and dining room but there's a plan to dedicate a separate space to it – El gato negro – in a room below street level. It's reached by passing across the front of the neighbouring tandoori and negotiating steep stone steps, but that's hilly Ripponden for you, where someone's attic is often someone else's basement.
What's the bet that within a year this place will be tapas-led, with the rib-eye and the boudin noir as the side shows? The thought is prompted by the quality of the tapas dishes which are informed, intelligent, occasionally sensational.
Sheffield has some lively tapas bars and Leeds has one or two, but none reaches the technical standards seen here. If anywhere in Yorkshire is offering better, it would be good to hear of it.
Shaw's early technique was refined at Pool Court in Leeds and for a short time by the mercurial John Burton-Race, though his enthusiasm for Spanish food appears self-acquired. This combination of classical training and personal mission results in memorable dishes like piquillo peppers filled with salt cod, with black olive dressing; and roast chicken with lemon, garlic and hot smoked paprika.
Tapas may have started as an edible protective cover to a glass of wine – the fly's unlikely gift to gastronomy – but it has developed worldwide into something more ambitious. In Madrid, tapas may still be a few prawns grilled with garlic in a small, rubbish-strewn bar. In Barcelona, they may provide the whole focus of a restaurant.
At the Junction, diners can mainline on these bright snacks, and even the smartest kitchens in Barcelona would be content to send out dishes as vivid and varied as these.
So, for example, the emollience of salt cod is balanced by the warm piquancy of red pepper, while the olive dressing conjures scents of the Mediterranean.
You imagine that this dish, and the musky paprika chicken, will be hard to beat, but the waiter then brings the next in a procession: crispy squid with chickpea purée. The squid has been fried in a delicate, tempura batter as thin as tissue and emerges tender and sweet, while the chickpeas offer a robust contrast. Catalan bread, spread with tomato and olive oil, is also satisfying in its boldness. There's another lively dish: padron peppers, the Russian roulette of this range.
I met these some years ago in a clifftop Mallorcan restaurant. A friend, who makes Arnold Schwarzenegger look effete, ordered a plateful. It seemed reasonable and the rest of the group wondered why the waiters were peeping at him from behind their hands. We soon found out.
The first pepper, green and somewhere in shape between a chilli and a green pepper, pleased him with its gentle fruitiness. The second, similarly innocent in appearance, acted on his throat like Vesuvius on an angry day.
He looked like a fire-eater who'd just swallowed his props and tried to put the flames out with toluene. The smirking waiters knew all about the random heat of these miniature missiles, though at The Junction only two of perhaps a dozen of the grilled peppers were so hot. Anyway, I recommend them, if only for the sport.
Other goodies: chorizo cooked in Austrian cider, and no, I don't get that connection, either, unless it's Hungarian; anchovy fillets, with a fresh mineral tang, on crostini; and pinchos morunos – pork marinated in a bracing mixture of chilli and garlic.
These culinary miniatures are cheerfully and professionally served – front-of-house man Chris Williams is also a Harvey Nichols export – in a room that's slightly unsure in design. The bar and banquettes say contemporary restaurant; the stained wood and exposed stone say 1970s pub.
The pick of the dishes – there are nearly three dozen tapas – was tortilla, the best I've had in years, in or out of Spain. It was freshly made and soufflé light. Perhaps an extra egg white or two or six had been whisked in. Whatever, it hovered rather than sat on the plate, a tribute to its creator's craft.
Other mouthfuls include caper berries, jamon Iberico, meats, cheeses, confit of pork belly with beans, slow-roast lamb shoulder, pork ribs in sherry and tiger prawns with rosemary and chilli. And you won't need to empty the cash machine across the road: the average price is about £4 a dish. Good wine list, though too strong in Spain. Long may it reign.
The Junction, 1 Oldham Road, Ripponden, West Yorkshire, HX6 4DN. 01422 823070. Open: dinner Wednesday-Saturday. Lunch: Wednesday-Monday. Smoke-free restaurant. Street parking. Music. Disabled access.
