Claude Bosi, the two-star Michelin chef and master of French cuisine, has a question about Aberdeen.
“Where would you go for good fish and chips?” he asks. “I’m looking for some good fish and chips.”
The celebrated Frenchman, whose succession of high-end restaurants have helped shape the UK’s fine dining scene will be in the Granite City later in April for the Signature Food Festival 2023 at The Chester Hotel.
Along with other famous faces including Angela Hartnett and Atul Kochhar, Claude will be sharing his extensive knowledge of cooking with the Aberdeen audience.
It is a rare caliber of guests for the city and the event is gearing up to be a must-see for anyone with an interest in modern dining.
For Claude, however, the festival is an opportunity to get his hands on some proper North Sea haddock – battered and deep fried to perfection, of course.
If he does, it will be the culmination of a love affair with Scottish seafood dating back to when Claude opened his first UK restaurant, Hibiscus in Shropshire in 1999.
Back in France, in his hometown of Lyon and in Paris where he trained, the seafood he used was mostly lobsters from Brittany and other locally-sourced produce.
But at Hibiscus, Claude cooked with Scotland’s finest langoustines and scallops.
“You have the freshness of it,” he says in praise Scottish seafood. “Getting live langoustines in France is very difficult, and they are very exclusive. But here you get them live – you don’t even think about getting them on ice. And that shows you the respect we’ve got for the product and the quality of it.”
Claude Bosi and his Signature Food Festival masterclass
For his Signature masterclass, Claude aims to share some of the knowledge he has accumulated in a career that earned him two Michelin stars at Hibiscus as well as two more for each of his subsequent ventures – the relocation of Hibiscus to London and his current restaurant Claude Bosi at Bibendum.
“We are going to try to give a bit of the DNA of what we do at Bibendum and show off some of the dishes that we do,” he says.
“It is always difficult to replicate something 100% when you are not in your own kitchen, but we have chosen dishes that really represent our philosophy.”
That philosophy includes using produce that is as local as possible, so all of the ingredients that Claude will use at Signature will come from Scotland.
The chef has yet to fully decided what will be on show, but he’s keen to get hold of some fish along with crab and lobster.
“It will be amazing,” he says.
One celebrated Scottish ingredient the chef is less sure of is whisky.
“I’m sure I can taste the difference between a good one and a bad one,” he says. “But my knowledge on whiskey is very limited.
“I’m still very French – give me a good Armagnac or a Cognac.”
The Signature Food Festival runs from Friday April 21 to Saturday April 29 and raises funds for The JEllie Foundation. Get more information about the chefs and the festival at www.signaturefoodfestival.co.uk and information about The JEllie Foundation at www.jelliefoundation.com. Tickets for Angela Hartnett and Claude Bosi are £200 per person and for Atul Kochhar, £150, which includes Champagne on arrival and paired wines with each course.
