Meet EightyEight's Head Chef, Samira Effa

Huddersfield-born Samira started her career at a local restaurant whilst still at school, where she developed her love of rich flavours thanks to her Iranian mother and Nigerian father. Since then, she has gained a wealth of experience all over the country in various MICHELIN star restaurants including 21212 in Edinburgh, Alimentum in Cambridge and Bohemia in Jersey. Samira has also worked as a Senior Production Chef for TRUEfoods, which helps to develop premium products for the restaurant industry.

Recognised for her culinary talents, Samira was asked to compete in the 2019 and 2020 series of Great British Menu, where she showcased great Yorkshire produce, her love of diverse cooking techniques and favourite flavours which come from her mixed parentage.

What inspired you to be a chef?

My parents have had a massive influence on my career. My Mum is from Iran and my Dad is from Nigeria so I've got a really diverse background and we always used to cook as a family. It was amazing to grow up learning the culinary techniques of two different cultures; I think this unique synergy must have sparked something from a very early age in me to continue pursuing. My mum used to say that when I was little, I used to be the only sister that would sit with her on the sofa and watch cooking programmes, so I think I absorbed a lot of cooking tips very early on and of course, food has always been a genuine passion of mine.

Where did you first receive your training?

When it came to choosing my subjects for school, I obviously choose food technology and I had two weeks’ work experience in a restaurant in Huddersfield where I'm from. The restaurant offered me a part-time job while I was still at school and my career just grew from there. Following school, I went to college and I achieved a BTEC National Diploma in Hospitality Supervision where I was introduced to the admin side of running a kitchen, while I continued to work part-time in the restaurant. I enjoyed being in the kitchen a lot more than the paperwork side of the role, as I loved being creative and experimenting. The role was integral for me as I was still at college at the time, learning the educational side of things in the daytime. On an evening I found that my skillset was developed twice as fast when I was on the job as opposed to learning in a classroom.

Who has been the most influential chef to work with so far in your career?

I have been lucky enough to work in MICHELIN-starred restaurants so far during my career, my first of which was Paul Kitching's 21212 in Edinburgh. It no longer retains its MICHELIN star now – I worked there when I was 21 for a year and half as a Senior Chef De Partie. The chef had an incredible palette and I was always so impressed by the flavours and combinations that we used to put together there which taught me a lot. Paul Kitching is a very disciplined chef and it was the cleanest kitchen I've ever worked in which set the bar for me in terms of the types of kitchens I knew I wanted to work in going forwards; I think going there was probably one of the best restaurants I could have gone to at that stage in my career because the way that he works is a lot different to lots of other MICHELIN-starred chefs which meant I learnt so much!

 
You’ve appeared in the Great British Menu, can you tell me more about this?

I have featured twice in the 2019 and 2020 North East series which was an incredible experience. Kit was stressful at first because you’re followed around everywhere with a camera and you have to talk through exactly what you’re doing step-by-step, which doubled with the thought of the competition is rather hectic at times! But you get used to it and get into the flow eventually. It's all a process as you don't ask to go on there, you get approached and then they come to your workplace to film you while you're at work, so to be asked to go on the show was a career highlight for me! The first year I took part I was up against Tom Anglesea who was a chef at the Laughing Heart in London, who pipped me to the post but was an extremely worthy winner.

 
What’s your cooking style?

I would say it's very diverse. I've got my background which I’ve learnt so much from, along with the different places I've worked for over the years, which has accumulated a variety of different cooking styles. I like to work with lots of ingredients and things that haven't worked before to see if I can create something new with them. I love Thai and Japanese food so it's a big opportunity for me to use all these new ingredients and incorporate my style of cooking into that for the EightyEight menu.

 
What are you looking forward to bringing to EightyEight?

With my experience in MICHELIN-starred restaurants, I think I want to bring that a little bit of the discipline of Michelin kitchen to EightyEight, in terms of the consistency of how the kitchen is ran and the experimental and creativity of the menu that you see in those types of places. I would love to develop the team and our offering to achieve another AA Rosette somewhere down the line, as that’s a huge goal for me and the team.

What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given in your career?

That's a really hard question! One thing I’ve always picked up from any chef I’ve ever worked with is that need to learn how to be quick at what you're doing but consistent and precise and just work hard really. Being passionate about your job is key and luckily I've always been really passionate about what I do. I’ve never not wanted to come to work because I love my job and I love cooking so it's not really a job for me, it's a hobby! I was working in a Relais & Châteaux property called Idle Rocks, in Cornwall and was working with another amazing chef there – Guy Owen, who now works at St Enodoc Hotel in Rock, Cornwall. He taught me all about how to run a kitchen like a well-oiled machine. He's probably one of the best chefs I've worked with that I aspire to most because of the way he ran that kitchen. It was a busy kitchen and we were working such long hours, but he made the team and kitchen work in such a way that it was just easy going, even though in reality it was really hard. So I learnt an awful lot on the job there!

What would you choose to eat for your last meal?

I would probably have to choose a curry. I think that it takes a true skill to be able to use a million different spices in the correct quantities to create a tasty and well-balanced dish.

What kind of chefs do you want to recruit in EightyEight?

We are looking for people that are excited by food and are passionate about what they're doing in the kitchen. I want the team to be looking at every single plate like I would, or like any of the other senior chefs would look at it and always be thinking “is that the best thing that I can produce?” because we need to be the best of the best! I can't run the kitchen by myself, so I need to have the right people around me and we all need to have the same mentality that we want the best things for the guests.