The end goal for ambitious chefs is almost always to have their own restaurant where they have free rein to cook exactly what they want. It's taken Andrew Sheridan years of steely determination to get to that point, but his intimate, immersive and inventive restaurant 8 is a pure distillation of his maverick cooking style.

Born in Liverpool but raised in North Wales, Andrew was essentially pushed into professional cooking by his dad, who convinced him to get a job in a local pub to keep him out of trouble. There was no real interest in cooking before that – he admits his own mother was a terrible cook – and the food being served at the chain pub was nothing special. But when he moved to a slightly more upmarket restaurant, something clicked. Andrew began reading about famous chefs, watching television series like Boiling Point and realised that, with enough hard work and dedication, he could turn cooking into a serious career.

Determined to cook at a much higher level, Andrew took a pay cut and moved to Chester in 2010 to work at Michael Caines' ABode hotel restaurant. Initially placed in the brasserie rather than the fine dining restaurant, his work ethic and willingness to learn quickly got him noticed. After winning North West Chef of the Year in 2011, head chef Stuart Collins offered Andrew the position of executive sous chef in the hotel's fine dining operation.

It was a shock to the system for Andrew, who was only twenty-one and suddenly had to master everything from plating delicate purées to making stocks and sauces from scratch. He credits Stuart Collins as the mentor who helped set him on the path to becoming the chef he is today.

Eventually, Andrew returned to North Wales, working at Château Rhianfa in Anglesey before becoming head chef at Bodnant Food Centre's River Room restaurant. After eighteen months, he found himself becoming complacent and decided to move to South Wales, where he could begin developing his own style of cooking at Sosban in Llanelli.

While trying to figure out what kind of chef he wanted to be, Andrew regularly switched up his menus, experimenting with techniques, flavours and increasingly ambitious dishes.

After competing on Great British Menu in 2018 but losing out to Chris Harrod, he realised he was trying to put too many elements on his plates. By stripping back his cooking and becoming more confident and concise, he returned to the competition the following year and won the Welsh heat.

By this point, Andrew had made a name for himself as a 'maverick chef', producing food that was inventive but increasingly assured and focused. So when Sosban suddenly closed in 2019, it threw a huge spanner in the works.

Wanting a fresh start, Andrew took his team to Cornwall to work at The Stargazy Inn in Port Isaac, but soon felt things weren't working out. Luckily, he was introduced to Sam and Emma Morgan, who had opened Craft Dining Rooms in Birmingham's International Convention Centre.

Andrew joined as executive chef, overseeing the restaurant's extensive all-day dining operation and Craft English Garden. But never one to stop pushing himself, he also set about creating a chef's table experience unlike anything he'd done before.

That concept, simply called 8, was an immersive, theatrical and slightly bonkers sixteen-seat chef's table combining light, sound and food into a multi-sensory evening.

It was Andrew's career on a plate, with dishes encapsulating his cooking style and referencing moments from his life. What's more, everything was themed around the number eight, from the titles of the dishes to the price, opening time and number of courses.

In spring 2023, 8 moved from Birmingham to Andrew's birthplace of Liverpool, taking over a Victorian building on Cook Street. The new restaurant retained its immersive approach, with guests seated around two eight-person counters where chefs prepare and explain each dish.

The restaurant went on to earn three AA Rosettes and a place in the Michelin Guide, cementing Andrew's reputation for technically accomplished, imaginative cooking.

It's clear that Andrew has never stopped working to improve his skills, and while 8 represents the culmination of years of graft, it has continued to evolve alongside him. Simple on the plate yet inventive and technically complex, with a mad brief and theme thrown in for good measure. What more could you want?

Not content with the success of 8, Andrew began expanding his restaurant portfolio in May 2022 with the opening of Black and Green, a modern British neighbourhood restaurant in Barnt Green, Worcestershire.

Further projects followed, including Restaurant OXA in Oxton on the Wirral, The Garrity in Worcestershire, The Bracebridge Bar and Grill in Sutton Coldfield and Dishes, a small plates restaurant in North Wales.

Each concept offered Andrew the opportunity to explore a different side of his cooking, from relaxed neighbourhood dining to more ambitious tasting menus, while maintaining his focus on flavour, creativity and quality ingredients.

In 2026, Andrew continued to expand his ambitions through Open Restaurant Group, taking on the role of executive chef at The Counter in Manchester. The all-day dining concept centres around open-fire cooking, with a full-scale rotisserie, dry-ageing cabinets and an intimate chef's counter bringing diners closer to the kitchen.

October 2026 also saw the opening of Seel & Slater in Liverpool's Ropewalks district, a New York-inspired restaurant and cocktail bar taking over the former Wreck Bistro site. Drawing inspiration from the grand dining rooms of New York, the concept brings together generous dishes, a lively atmosphere and a more relaxed approach to hospitality.

From his earliest days in a North Wales pub kitchen to building a growing restaurant portfolio, Andrew has never lost the determination or willingness to experiment that first earned him his maverick reputation. Whether he's creating an immersive tasting menu or a neighbourhood restaurant, his cooking continues to be driven by the same ambition: to push himself, surprise diners and never stop evolving.