Elisa Menendez
EVER wondered what it would be like to share an evening with a global superstar?
A Costa del Sol chef has cooked for many of them, including Rod Stewart, Michael Jackson and Shirley Bassey, to name just a few.
British chef, Steve Hyatt, has also served up dishes for the Queen and Frank Sinatra too.
“I spent three nights drinking until the early hours with Frank, he was such a nice guy,” added the 66-year-old expat, who upped sticks to open his restaurant the Blue Marlin Seafood restaurant in Mijas three years ago with his wife Alison.
The expat, who has worked at a string of five-star hotels from South Africa to Australia, recalled how the Rat Pack crooner called him to come out of the kitchen to congratulate him on a great meal.
A night of drinking ensued in the city of Durban, in which they shared ‘numerous’ travellers tales.
“The next evening I cooked him oysters but he wasn’t keen,” laughed Steve, who later jazzed up the dish and prepared ‘Rockefeller-style’ oysters which were more to Sinatra’s taste.
On the third night, the superstar burst through the doors and shouted: ‘Stevie, it’s post time!’ and poured a strong glass of liquor before a small, private performance.
Another major icon to walk through the Southern Sun Hotel doors was the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson.
“He was quiet and polite and really quite childlike,” recalled Steve, who cooked a traditional South African dish for the superstar.
But not all of the expat’s celeb encounters were plain sailing, as he recalls how Dame Shirley Bassey was ‘horrible’.
“She was stoned out of her brains and hacked off after she performed a concert where a lot of people walked out,” he added.
After the singer ordered room service at 1am and requested lobsters, she claimed she had not ordered them and an aggressive outburst followed.
“She got abusive towards the staff and even a bit racist,” added Steve, who said the diva had no recollection of her actions the next morning at breakfast.
The fine-dining chef got his first taste of the high life when he became an apprentice at the age of 16, on the prestigious Queen Elizabeth 2 ship.
It was there that he met his first global figure, the Queen of England. “It was quite intimidating,” he admitted.
He cooked a dish of smoked salmon and truffles (recipe below), as the Queen apparently doesn’t eat starch.
Now, the expat is enjoying his own new-found celebrity status as he is recognised as ‘the man off the telly’, following his appearance on the TV show, A New Life in the Sun.
Here’s his recipe for the Queen…
Scrambled Egg with Black Truffle and Smoked Salmon, a favourite of Queen Elizabeth
Breakfast for 4 persons
Ingredients:
- 100 grams Smoked Salmon, cut into slivers
- 25 grams Black Truffles (finely grated, a small quantity reserved for shaving on top of finished dish)
- 6 Eggs (stored overnight with the fresh truffles)
- 60 ml Cream
- 4 slices of bread
- Butter
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions:
- Beat the eggs, cream, salt, pepper and the finely grated truffle in a small bowl
- Lightly toast the bread slices on each side, and butter.
- Melt a tablespoon of butter in a non stick pan and lightly cook the egg mixture.
- Spoon the egg mixture over the toasted bread, layer the smoked salmon slithers on top, and finish with truffle shavings.
