Chef profile - Simon Baker of Gimbals Restaurant

They met working at Berties Bistro in Elland in 1993 – their eyes met over a cooking pot and they’ve been together ever since. They bought the building – then an antique shop – in June 1995 and opened in October after doing all the renovations themselves.

Simon’s first foray into cooking was making sausage rolls at school. He remembers taking the ingredients in a Quality Street tin. “My careers officer said to me “come on then lad, there must be something you like doing?” I replied “well I like cooking with my Mum”. “Right, it’s catering college for you”. A year at Kirklees College and 25 years later, Gimbals goes from strength to strength, with an entry in the Waitrose Good Food Guide for the last 15 years and a loyal customer base.

Who is your culinary inspiration? Janet, my wife. She’s always coming up with new ideas – she’s got such a great imagination. It’s tedious at times, just when I think I’m heading for an easy week, there she goes posting stuff on social media making the restaurant busier than ever. Only joking, we work really well together. She is the driving force behind Gimbals.

Which cookery books do you use the most? Practical Cookery Volume 1. I still have it amongst the hundreds of books we have collected over the years. If we get a menu block we turn to Moro by Samantha and Sam Clarke. They used to travel around rural Spain and northern Morocco gathering amazing rustic recipes that have inspired us over the years. The Ethicurean cookbook is another great read. Full of rural, seasonal, passion led recipes. My all-time favourite is The Women’s Institute Book of Preserves and Pickles I got in a local charity shop. It’s quite old, the pages are yellowing but the recipes are fantastic.

Who would you invite to your dream dinner party? It would most definitely be Sir David Attenborough – my second passion is wildlife. Peter Kay would be there, he makes me laugh out loud and Jim Morrison from The Doors.

What’s the secret of your longevity? I think the longevity and success of Gimbals is down to adapting to new foods, keeping up with the times and trying to be one step ahead but still using the basics as the body of every dish. The crab bisque takes days to make properly and you can tell when you taste the depth of the ingredients.

Which piece of kitchen kit couldn’t you do without? Tom, my wingman. Also a handmade knife a good friend had made for me for my 50th birthday out of Damascus steel. It’s an absolute work of art. We had it hanging on the wall at home for a while, I didn’t want to use such a beautiful knife. I came into the kitchen one day to see Janet slicing Iberico ham with it. I went mad. Janet said it’s the only sharp knife in the house!

What would be your last supper? This is a very hard question to be asking a chef. I think it has to be Christmas dinner. The finest free range turkey covered in crispy bacon, wonderful local pork stuffing and sage from the garden, eaten with the whole family round the table of course. I’d die happy.

What are you doing during lockdown? We’ve never had so many early nights. It was very weird at first but this time is giving us an opportunity to reflect and get ready for throwing open the doors again to all our amazing customers. Until then we’re cooking for Food 4 Heroes, making meals for hospital workers in West Yorkshire – it’s a great initiative and it’s keeping us busy.

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