He had swopped his job as a driving instructor - apparently, he had taught George Best and a few other United stars how to race round the city's streets in their yellow sports cars in comparative safety - for endless days of beachcombing in Lytham St Annes.
One day, after an early morning tramp down the sands, he brought me a large brown paper bag full of what looked like sinewy, salt-smelling weeds. "These are like gold dust in London restaurants," he breathlessly whispered. Which made me wonder why he was giving them to me.
"It's samphire. Sea asparagus. It only grows where salt and fresh water meet and it's absolutely gorgeous."
I took it home, sautéed it lightly in butter as he had told me and tucked into my first meal of sand-grown gold dust with glee.
Samphire, or glasswort, springs up in summer in the more muddier areas of our coastline and is indeed much sought after. Lesser examples of the delicate, Christmas tree-shaped plant come from overseas, but our native species is the best. If asparagus is the king of veg, samphire is definitely the sea lord.
Therefore it is easy to see why Hale's Nectar, which prided itself on using as much organic and home-grown produce in its dishes as possible, should choose the name Samphire when it transformed itself into a fish restaurant a few months ago. But I was more than a little upset not to see any samphire at all on the menu.
General manager Nick Theaker was cheerful but apologetic when I ventured my disappointment that his restaurant's namesake was not available to sample.
He explained it was due to supply problems. One batch of samphire they had in was not up to much and that served as an accompaniment it killed off the subtleties in any fish laid next to it.
Appetizer
That's as maybe, but what about a few steamed stems as an appetizer, just to set the menu apart and frame that rather sexy name?
That aside, smiley Nick won us over with his charm and obvious enthusiasm for his place and told us that all the fish was bought through well-regarded local outlet The Fish Game, on Greenwood Street in Altrincham, so chef Ashley Clarke didn't have to get up so early to source it. Lucky Ashley.
And lucky us as my partner started off with some sublime scallops. They were seared and served with watercress, a sweet chilli sauce and crème fresh (£8.95). All four were plump and creamily melty in the centre, although that sauce tended to overpower them if you took too much.
My brace of lemon and parsley fishcakes (£6.95) were traditional, light, moist and also didn't need too much of their chive and garlic mayo to make them special.
We drank a full-bodied, unoaked Anglesey chardonnay. No, wine-making has not reached the island of rocky coves and low-flying Hawk jets - this was from Australia, and at £17.50, was very peachy and full-bodied and complemented well the various big-flavour sauces we spotted on the menu.
It would have tasted even better in Samphire's new outdoor area, but the rain had driven us inside the building, a former 19th century wash-house opposite Hale's railway station, which restaurateur Jeremy Al-Radhi converted for Nectar, and which has now been spruced up for Samphire.
Maritime
Washed in tasteful off-white, the restaurant has maritime artwork and blond wood to give it a sun-bleached, New England coast feel without descending into cheesy beach-hut. The atmosphere was buzzy, with a number of women-only groups, which my wife put down to the "delightful" manager.
And according to Nick, the switch to a fish menu six or so weeks ago was made to play to the strengths of Ashley's cooking - and in the mains you could see why.
My whole black bream (£14.95) was perfect, with a peppery crunch to the skin. This sweet, delicate, very British fish sat on top of a creamy, butter-hued saffron risotto. It all benefited from a zingy dash of exotic piri piri sauce.
Opposite was an equally well-executed pan seared red snapper (£12.95) with chilli and lemon butter. There was a drizzle of balsamic and pesto on the attractive, thick, bright-red cuts of fish and the chilli and lemon butter was toned down enough to allow the snapper to rule.
Unfortunately, dessert did not reach the same high standard, with the menu on a blackboard a little unexciting. My summer pudding (£4.95) was packed with zesty redcurrants, blackcurrants, blackberries and raspberries but was a overly tart for my sweet tooth and the bready casing fell away all too easily.
It was soggy with sauce rather than nicely saturated. The choux buns with banana crème opposite (£4.95) were better but the pastry was a little hard.
The desserts pegged this delightful place back from a five-star rating, but get the puds right and a meal at Samphire - like the elusive plant - could be culinary gold dust.
Samphire, 12-14 Victoria Road, Hale (0161 928 3000, nectarhale.com)
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