Unsung Hero: Jason Simpson, Fish City, Belfast
Fry Magazine | Rising Stars & Unsung Heroes / By Helen Edmonds / 22 May 2026
Age: 20
Position: Sous chef
Nominated by John Lavery, owner of Fish City, who says: “Jason first came to us when he was a school participant at age 11 to one of our sustainability-environmental classes– the Kids Club. He approached ourselves at 16 years of age, expressing an interest in learning how to fry and chef. He is interested in all aspects of the kitchen, not only fish and chips, and was surprised how technical the preparation and the cooking of this dish is. We are as committed to Jason and his personal and professional development as he is to us and our team, and we see a bright future for him in his career in hospitality.”
How long have you worked at Fish City?
I’ve been working at Fish City for coming on to five years now. I’d just turned 16 and finished my GCSEs, and both my brother and sister were working here at the time. My sister Stacey trained me up on the pass. I plated the dishes coming from the fryer, like fish and chips and scampi and all the takeaway orders, made the sauces from scratch, and prepped lemons and butter, then during service I managed the flow of all the dishes leaving the kitchen to go out to tables on the floor. I did that for a few months then asked if I could train as a chef. About two years in, I was promoted to demi chef de partie, then when the role of sous chef came up, I asked if I could apply, and that’s been me since.
What are your responsibilities?
I lead the kitchen whenever our head chef Nick is not in, managing our day-to-day, from prep through service then cleaning down, and coordinating the pace of prep and service. If someone’s absent, I step in to fill the gap, and I supervise the cooking staff to keep a good flow in the kitchen. I ensure that everything is up to standard and is of the quality, presentation, taste, and temperature that we are proud to serve guests.
What’s your favourite part of the job?
Aside from going home after a good day’s work, I’d say my favourite part of the job is being creative with the ingredients and dishes. I like experimenting with the plating of a dish to see if we can improve upon it and make it nicer for the customer. Height or elevation is very important, and I’m always keeping an eye out for what other chefs are doing, what their dishes look like, and the ingredients they’re using.
What’s your least favourite part of the job?
The clean down at the end of the night after a busy service. Though of course it’s very important, so we always muscle through it and do a really good job so that we’re all ready to go again for the next service.
What is it that you like about working at Fish City?
I like that there is lot of variety in what we do. We have our a la carte menus, and they would change from season to season, keeping the classics that everyone knows and loves, obviously the fish and chips and other dishes like the seafood chowder and oyster platters. But then we can be creative with specials, market test them, and work with species of fish that people may be a little less familiar with.
How do you feel about being nominated as an Unsung Hero?
I feel privileged. My first experience with Fish City was attending their Kids Club where Grainne and John were teaching us about different species of fish and sustainability and why it’s healthy to eat fish. From then to know, it’s like night and day. I feel more confident and disciplined, my technical skills are better, and I feel set up for my career.