Each week we spotlight a Bradford chef, with a recipe or two from them so you can conjure up your own home-made version of restaurant fare, then seek their verdict on high-street products.

Today: Senior chef de partie Martin Davison at the Hilton Hotel, Bradford Given his family background, it was only natural that Martin Davison should carve out a career in the catering trade. "All my family worked in catering, " he says. "My mum, grandparents, aunts and uncles."

Martin's mother used to manage Tong Village Hotel, now the Courtyard by Marriott, his aunts and uncles were chefs, and his grandparents, who he lived with as a boy, worked as steward and stewardess of Northcliffe Golf Club, and later Baildon Golf Club.

"Everyone was involved in the industry, so I dabbled in cookery when I was young, I started to learn about putting a meal together at about seven or eight."

Martin was 16 when he moved with his grandparents to Bradford. He enrolled at the Hotel & Catering Training College in Little Germany.

After completing the course, his first job was at the newly-opened Salt's Diner in Salt's Mill, Saltaire. "I really enjoyed it. It was a new enterprise offering a different kind of catering.

We did American-style food - bagels, burgers, pizzas. It had a fantastic atmosphere."

After two years he moved to take on the role of chef at Northcliffe Golf Club in Shipley. "It was very different. We catered for older members who liked more traditional food and the younger ones who would order chicken jalfrezi. We also catered for outside functions such as weddings and birthday parties, " recalls Martin, 34. "It was very hands-on and allowed me to be creative."

Based at the golf club also allowed the opportunity to try his hand on the fairway, but despite playing with club members and taking part in charity matches, Martin is adamant that his skills lie firmly in the kitchen.

He stayed at Northcliffe for 11 years. "I got to know so many people." A move to Baildon Golf Club came next, but was short-lived due to the foot and mouth outbreak, which resulted in the club closing temporarily.

A stint as head chef at a carvery in Hull followed but Martin missed his mates in Bradford and was soon heading back to West Yorkshire.

Armed with his cv, he called in at the Hilton hotel in Hall Ings. "I dropped it off and was about to get the bus home when they rang me and offered me a job."

Now senior chef de partie, he produces meals for various menus, ranging from breakfasts, to a la carte to functions including weddings and conferences.

Dishes include steamed fillet of sea bass, served on a nest of diced tomato and cucumber; and pan-fried loin of lamb, wilted savoy cabbage and new potatoes with a redcurrant jus.

Breakfasts include porridge, poached fish, and a traditional English breakfast of bacon, sausage, black pudding haggis, egg and tomatoes.

"We are always really busy, and there is a great atmosphere, " he says. "Because the university is close by we have a lot of students working here from all over the world, and we have a lot of really nice guests."

At home in Heaton he dines on home-cooked food, usually feeding a group of friends too. "We don't eat out much. They all come round to eat - they appreciate my cooking."