Chef Watch, Featuring Peter McKenna of Bistro 1155, Glasgow

Chef Watch

Featuring Peter McKenna, Chef and Co-owner

Bistro 1155, Glasgow

 How long have you been a chef?

I stepped into my first professional kitchen at the ripe old age of 14 as a kitchen porter. Over the years that followed, I progressed to working within the kitchen team of a local Monaghan hotel and Mediterranean restaurant. I started culinary college once I finished school at 18 in 1997, so nearly three decades—where does the time go?

Why did you become a chef?

I must have been a strange kid, but I really never considered any other career. I found refuge in kitchen life.

Favourite ingredient(s)

I'm driven by seasonal flavours - my favourite ingredients change throughout the year.

Favourite or signature dish

I've had many dishes that would have been considered signature, but to be honest, I tire of individual dishes (not components or flavour combinations). I suppose our current Aged Beef Tartare with Bone Marrow, Parsley and Shallots is right up there - a firm favourite with our guests.

Favourite kitchen tool or equipment (apart from sharp knives)

Our Thermomix - we use it so much I've got two! So versatile and robust, they're real workhorses.

Food hero(es)

Very predictably, Anthony Bourdain. As a young cook, I was an avid reader - commuting to work and on breaks from the kitchen, I would have a book out. While working at the Sydney Opera House, my head chef (knowing I would devour it) gave me a copy of Kitchen Confidential. It felt like he spoke for us - after all, he was one of us, even if we were at opposite ends of our careers. There are too many chefs to mention; I've worked with some incredible chefs who have inspired me along the way. Those who helped shape me in my formative years are my heroes.

Any food you can’t/won’t eat

I'm not a huge fan of calf's liver. Apart from that, I have a pretty robust appetite.

Comfort food/guilty secret

I don't have any guilty food secrets - I like what I like. Comfort food for me is some smooth potato purée and a stew with a good depth of flavour.

If I’m going out to eat, and I can’t get a table at your place, where should I go?

Head to Brett on Great Western Road or Crabshakk across the street.

Stupidest customer or kitchen experience

Our guests are all wonderful - very thankful for them visiting us. I told this story recently: not long after opening The Gannet, we had an explosion that could have seriously injured or killed one of our team. A chef (who will remain nameless) decided it would be a good idea to cover a pot of clams with another pot of the same size to trap the steam and open the shellfish. What he didn't anticipate was the pots getting stuck together, with the steam creating a vacuum seal between them. None of the chefs or kitchen porters could separate the pots. I was in the restaurant writing that evening's menu when, to escalate the situation, the KP and chef in question had a brainwave to heat the pot further, hoping this would help separate them. What actually happened was the building pressure caused the top pot to shoot off like a rocket, smashing into the canopy, breaking the lights, and bending the metal. I hate to think what damage would have been done if it had hit somebody. Needless to say, there were clams everywhere. The first guests for a full service arrived less than five minutes later.

 

Peter McKenna is Chef and co-owner of 1155 at 1155 Argyle Street, Glasgow along with Kevin Dow. The pair operated as The Gannet for 12 years, closing on Hogmanay 2025. The premises were substantially renovated, reopening in March of this year. The ethos is a slightly less formal approach, but still retaining the standards which have won numerous awards, including the Scottish Licensed Trade News Fine Dining Restaurant of the Year in 2021. A review will follow soon in Tom Eats!. Find out more on their website.