Chef Scott Gavin at The Monro, Duke Street, Liverpool _460
The suspicion is always there, too, that Lee’s mum has been a big influence on his cooking. Asked what his professional opinion is of the hospital food at the Royal, he looks a little embarrassed, and admits: “To be honest, my mum lives right by the hospital up Everton Brow, and she brought food in for me.
“She’s a lovely cook. I love things like bacon ribs, shoulder of lamb, stews, hot-pots and the like.”
As always, in any successful restaurant, the key is fresh ingredients, with both Lee and Scott finding time to work together on ordering in the ingredients.
It’s a shared passion, and neither of them has any complaints about putting in the time, regularly working 11-hour days to keep the standards up at the Monro.
It’s something Scott, in particular, was brought up with. He’s been in the business for 17 years now, having started when he was just 12 helping out in the kitchens of the hotel his father ran at the time, the Old Station House, in Appley Bridge, near Wigan.
His family are from Liverpool, but, after Wigan, Scott spent the new few years of his career working round the five-star hotels of Manchester. “It’s actually the first time I’ve ever worked over here in Liverpool at The Monro,” he admits.
“I’ve got a passion for fresh ingredients,” he says, “and cooking should aim at all times for a careful balance.”
For Lee, who spent a lot of time in the Midlands, working first in The Bridewell and then The Monro was a bit of a culture shock after time in establishments where the microwave was king.
“It was a bit scary at first, a bit more pressured.
“But I’ve been surprised how well things have been going. Now we just want to be number one if we can.”
The Monro itself is now a Grade II-listed building which draws its name from a three-masted sailing ship the James Monro of the Black Bull line of 1817, named after an American President and plying the first regular scheduled transatlantic service between Liverpool and New York right up to 1850.
The full name of James Monro has now been revived to create a sister establishment to The Monro, in Tithebarn Street, with a far stronger accent on American-style cooking, as opposed to the British/Mediterranean feel of the Duke Street operation.