Marc Wilkinson has left the Latymer restaurant in Pennyhill Park, Bagshot, Surrey, where he has been head chef for the past three years, to set up his own restaurant in Cheshire.
The chef, who won the 2002 Kikkoman Masters competition and the 2002 and 2003 British Meat Hotel/Restaurant Chef of the Year titles, has acquired a site in the Wirral conservation village of Oxton and is aiming to open it as a fine-dining restaurant in mid-March.
The restaurant will be called Restaurant Fraiche and will have a 30-seat capacity. Wilkinson paid just under £200,000, inclusive of freehold, for the site, which used to be an Italian pizzeria.
He has designed its interior and done much of the refurbishment work himself. "It's all my own money and I'm doing it on a shoestring, so I've done as much as I can," he said. "It's been a steep learning curve."
He added: "I got a bit disillusioned with the hotel scene and wanted to put some roots down. I wasn't looking out for somewhere, but the opportunity came along to buy this place. I come from around here and have still got friends and family in the area - they spotted the site and I decided to go for it."
Wilkinson will continue to cook the same type of modern European food with which he made a name for himself at Pennyhill Park.
His opening menu will include low-temperature-cooked organic salmon served with glazed mooli, pea mousse, essence of smoked bacon and garlic crisps; and rhubarb-and-honeycomb cappuccino with cromesqui of ginger and sweet-and-sour marshmallow.
Restaurant Fraiche will operate a set-price menu structure - £24 for two courses, £29.50 for three - plus a tasting menu of 10 courses at £39.
Wilkinson has been succeeded at Pennyhill Park's Latymer restaurant by Duncan Ray, who moves from the hotel's brasserie.