Andrew Baird

The Path

Andrew Baird took on the Head Chef role at Longueville Manor in Jersey in 1995, and that long tenure has been built on continuity rather than spectacle. The authority in this kind of work comes from staying close to a place and cooking in step with it. As Executive Head Chef of Longueville Manor Hotel and Restaurant and chef of Locanda Pincelli, he works within a style that values steadiness, precision, and a direct relationship to the island.

The Work Today

At Longueville Manor Hotel in Jersey, the cooking associated with Andrew Baird is described as simple and flavorful, with the finest local produce from Jersey doing the main work. The discipline is in restraint: the point is not to decorate the ingredient, but to keep its freshness and character intact with as little interference as possible. At The Restaurant at Longueville Manor, scallops are the clearest expression of that approach. Andrew Baird serves them very fresh, sometimes raw as ceviche, sometimes seared, and sometimes as a gratin with lobster sauce. Each version keeps the focus on the same thing: freshness, sweetness, and a clean sea note. As he puts it, they can be so fresh they are “straight out of the sea,” and even “still alive” when they go into the pan.

In Their Words “It’s often the case that I’m serving people scallops that are straight out of the sea. I have photos of myself putting the scallops in the pan when they’re still alive—they’re that fresh.”

Acclaim

“When they’re that fresh, it’s a lovely thing to be eating them raw.”