Chef to the stars cooking up a storm in Stretford Mall

Gary Yule, left, with Uplift owner Paul Grzesiak

A chef who has prepared meals for some of football’s biggest stars including Christiano Ronaldo and David Beckham is behind the menu at a new ‘clean food’ cafe in Stretford Mall.

Gary Yule, is cooking up a storm at the shopping centre’s newly-launched ‘Uplift’ which is on a mission to fuel up gym-goers.

The 39-year-old from Stretford has worked with Michelin star chef Aiden Byrne and trained under one of the country’s most successful pastry chefs, Michael Nadell.

Gary says his focus has always been on high-quality food and he’s excited about his new challenge working for fitness enthusiasts Paul and Georgie Grzesiak, who have launched Uplift with a vision to serving a range of meals made with whole foods and packing a powerful nutritional punch.

Everything is made in-house at Uplift, even the breads, using as much local produce as possible and catering for every dietary requirement.

Among the products on offer will be a dairy-free, nut milk drinks range launched by The Apprentice runner-up Camilla Ainsworth, who owns Blackburn-based M+LKPLUS.

Uplift is also serving coffees and teas from Brew Britannia, based in Oldham, and honey from Old Trafford-based Art of Honey.

Gary previously worked at the luxurious Macdonald Craxton Wood Hotel & Spa, near Chester, and Knutsford’s Mere Golf Resort and Spa, where famous faces have included former Manchester United stars Ronaldo and Beckham, Sir Alex Ferguson, and England cricket legend Freddie Flintoff.

Speaking about the menu, Gary said: “Everything is made in-house, from the breads to the pulled pork smoked on the premises.

“We’ve reduced saturated fats so certain oils and butters are out. We’ll be using avocado and coconut oils.

“We’ve reduced the calorific value of sugars and there is a lot of proteins. We start from 7am with breakfasts, such as clean sausage patte, eggs benedict or scrambled, overnight oats, housemade granola and yoghurt, and protein pancakes.

“For lunch we’ve got pizzas from our stonewalled oven, burgers, sweet potato jackets, pulled pork wraps, vegetable mezze selections and a mackerel dish which is full of omega 3 and is not a fish you find on many menus.

“Then customers have the option to build their own box to suit their needs, so you pick a protein like chicken or steak, a carb such as sweet potato or brown rice, salad or veg, and then a sauce such as piri piri or sweet chilli.

“We cater for every dietary requirement and have lots of gluten free options, so there is quite a bit of work involved.”

Uplift owners Paul and Georgie Grzesiak are both keen members at Pure Gym where they enjoy training, and need nutritionally balanced meals to get the best from their workouts.

They are hoping to encourage fellow gym members to eat their high protein, low carb options and are delighted to have a highly-talented chef on board to make it happen.

Father-of-four Paul, 43, said: “We put a post on Facebook asking about a chef and one of Gary’s friends tagged him.

“We had a chat and he came in for an interview, and that was it. He was looking for something a bit different to what he’d done before. It was a perfect match.”

Stretford Mall shopping centre manager, Gareth Wilkins, said: “I’m delighted that Paul and Georgie have launched their new business venture here as it demonstrates the confidence businesses have in the shopping centre.”

Gary said: “It was a fantastic experience working with Aiden Byrne during my time at Craxton Wood, where I was based for about 18 months to two years.

“I remember we had Freddie Flintoff in there once but it was in my role at Mere Golf and Country Club where there would be a lot of famous people.

“Practically every celebrity in the North West goes there. In my time we had the likes of Christiano Ronaldo, David Beckham and Sir Alex Ferguson coming in as well as most of the Coronation Street cast, and once we had David Cameron, too.

“Some would come into the kitchen and speak to us – Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Bobby Charlton used to do that a lot.”

Close