When it came to wanting the head chef gig at His Majesty’s Theatre (HMT), no one wanted it more than Russell Jones.
The chef went to great lengths to secure the position, even booking a ferry to get to Aberdeen for his interview. He also cooked for the interview panel, putting his skills to the test in a pressurised environment.
And even though securing the job would mean relocating his partner and his two-year-old son to the Granite City from Shetland, Russell couldn’t be more sure about the move.
Having worked in the industry for more than a decade the 29-year-old felt it was the right time to take on a leading role.
Leading is certainly the right word for the position of head chef, which includes overseeing the new 80-seater cafe-bar and restaurant, The Terrace, which just opened last week.
Having grown up in Stonehaven and worked in Aberdeen city centre, Russell ended up in Shetland in December 2019.
In our Q&A, Russell talks about spending the last three years working with some of the best seafood in the world and how he is fresh for a new challenge.
What was it that attracted you to The Terrace at His Majesty’s Theatre?
I was looking for something new and I wanted my own kitchen. I was getting to the point where I was thinking ‘I’m 29, if I’m going to stay in this career it has to be my food, it has to be something different’.
I applied one day and was phoned and asked for an interview. I was pretty much booking my boat immediately to come back to Aberdeen.
I came in and was prepping food for them. They were all trying it and loving it. And that was it.
I came back to Aberdeen because of this job. I was enjoying working under other chefs in Shetland but I just felt I was good enough to do it myself, so when the opportunity arose, it was a no brainer.
How are you putting your own stamp on the menu?
I’ve never worked for any company like this before, so I did some research on other theatres and considered what pre-theatre dining could be.
It’s so dated. Everything’s very fine dining with small fiddly things.
I wanted to bring something a little bit new, a little bit fresh and colourful. I mean, we’re Aberdeen Performing Arts so you know, it has to be colourful and arty – that’s the kind of food I like making. It is quite different to what it was.
I took a lot of inspiration from previous head chefs I have worked for and previous venues I’ve worked at. It was about six weeks working on the menu.
I had to be very careful when writing it because I hadn’t seen or been in the kitchen while creating the menu. I had to be very careful of what I could actually achieve in the space. I was trying the dishes at home, tweaking them and then eventually getting it right.
It’s really my own style to the people I’ve learned from as well.
Will the menu be changed seasonally? How do you plan on keeping things fresh?
I liked the idea of like it being seasonal and but I think it would be a case of removing items and adding something and replacing something, rather than having a complete shutdown on the menu and then a new one coming.
I’ll maybe look to take three or four off, and then add three or four to go more seasonal with them.
We’ll also look at doing specials themed to some of the shows when they are in residence at HMT.
So if it was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, we’d do a more chocolate-based kind of dining option. We’d maybe also add a themed special cocktail and that sort of thing.
What do diners need to be trying?
I would go for the monkfish. It’s locally sourced. And the same with our burgers as they are all homemade. And again, the meat is locally sourced.
I definitely try and get everything local just help out everywhere and ourselves as well. If we’re good to them, then they’re good to us.
We use McWilliam’s for our meat, Granite City Fish for our seafood, and a local company for our fruit and vegetables.
Everything on the menu is so different to the last item. I think it will be a case of coming in and trying and seeing what your favourite is going to be.
And why have you added a Christmas menu into the mix? Surely you’ll be busy enough without the addition of another menu as you’ve just opened?
Christmas is a big deal at HMT. We’ve got the pantomime and it’s the biggest show of the year. It is on for quite a few weeks and is a really big thing, so we wanted to get involved with that as much as we could.
We wanted to have a few festive options in case a family wanted to come out and have some Christmas dinner one night before a show.
The festive menu is a lot smaller than the main one, but it has some great dishes on it.
There’s a lot of alternative options on the menu too. Why was it important to focus on this when scripting the menu?
It is kind of focused around street food. We’re very based on the products being gluten and dairy-free as well, just because I’ve been to restaurants where it is a pain to get these sort of options.
I don’t want to be turning someone away just because they have a gluten allergy or anything like that, my main focus is that everybody’s welcome. There’s something on the menu for everyone. And we will adapt what we do to the customer.
We’ve got four vegan dishes on the menu, including vegan burgers as well. All of our fries are vegan as are the loaded ones, bar the parmesan one. I wanted to make sure there was a mix of both in our restaurant so that everyone can eat here.
Will bar snacks be a future option?
The bar is there for people to come in just for a drink, but I think we’re going to work on bar nibbles as well.
Some people just want something quick and small, and maybe they just want a drink with a nibble, so it will be good to be able to offer that in the future.
We do have small plates that would suffice for now, but we’ll create a full bar snacks offering that will be a bit different for people.
Tell me a bit about the team…
It is a brand new team. I used to work in Aberdeen before so I’ve hired a sous chef that I used to work with, who I can trust and is very reliable. She always shows up every time.
We’ve got three kitchen assistants who all seem great so far. We’ve had them in place for about three weeks now and they just get on with the job.
They’re a joy to have. We all get on very well. I think there’s more than enough of us in the kitchen just now, but we’ll just have to wait and see what demand is like.
Does working at HMT mean anything to you personally?
Within this building, there’s always going to be the footfall before the shows. So we’re always going to be busy, we’re always going to have the people coming in.
I came here a lot as a child, not really much into my adult years, but as a child, I always remember coming to pantomimes and things like that. I think I’ve seen Scooby Doo here once.
I used to go to The Lemon Tree and Music Hall all the time for gigs. Aberdeen Performing Arts as a whole company is something that I’ve kind of grown up with.
The Terrance will be open Tuesday to Saturday and will be led by the show times for their operating hours. It will be open for teas, coffee and cake in the mornings, and lunch plus pre-theatre dining. Diners are urged to pre-book during December, when two sittings a day will be bookable, however from January onwards, they won’t have to book in advance. Pre-book your table here.
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