Marco Pierre White honoured at Craft Guild of Chef Awards

10 July 2007 by Amanda Afiya

Marco Pierre White was among the chefs to be honoured at the Craft Guild of Chef Awards 2007 last night.

The awards, which took place at the Royal Lancaster hotel in London, recognised 14 chefs from all sectors of the industry and culminated in a special award for White.

Among the other winners were Simon Young, executive chef of the Jumeirah Carlton Tower, London, who took the banqueting chef award title and who earlier this year hosted Caterer‘s Chef Conference, and Lee Bennett, head chef of the Savoy Grill, part of Gordon Ramsay Holdings.

The Savoy Grill saw further glory with a second award to Lahiru Jayasekara, formerly senior chef de partie at the grill, who received the young chef award. Jayasekara has recently moved to join Alain Roux's brigade at the Waterside Inn in Bray.

Other chefs to emerge victorious were pub restaurant chef award winner Michael Bedford, chef-proprietor of the Trouble House near Tetbury, who is relocating to a cafe-delicatessen in the same village next month and David Hunt, who took the contract catering chef award. Hunt is executive chef for Sodexho - Scotland and Ireland.

The winners in full

Apprentice chef award: Emily Webb, pastry apprentice, Royal Garden hotel, London
Banqueting chef award: Simon Young, executive chef, Jumeirah Carlton Tower, London
Competition chef award: Andy Twells, executive chef and general manager, Compass Group UK
Contract catering chef award: David Hunt, executive chef, Sodexho - Scotland and Ireland
Cost sector chef award: Nick Copson, head chef and catering manager, Teesdale School, Barnard Castle, County Durham
Development chef award: John Feeney, European culinary director, Griffith Laboratories - The Food Architects
Education chef award: David Auchie, lecturer, South Lanarkshire College
Ethnic chef award: Vijay Anand, group executive chef, Patak's Foodsolutions
New restaurant of the year award: Scott's, London
Pastry chef award: Graham Hornigold, pastry chef, the Lanesborough, London
Pub restaurant chef award: Michael Bedford, chef-proprietor, the Trouble House, Tetbury, Gloucestershire
Restaurant chef award: Lee Bennett, head chef, the Savoy Grill, London
Young chef award: Lahiru Jayasekara, senior chef de partie, the Savoy Grill (since being nominated Jayasekara has joined the Waterside Inn in Bray)
Special award: Marco Pierre White