Robert Thompson, head chef at Michelin-starred Winteringham Fields, is to leave the Lincolnshire restaurant to join Waldo's, the fine-dining restaurant at the Cliveden hotel in Berkshire.
He will take over as head chef at the restaurant, which also holds a star, at the beginning of November after six years at Winteringham.
Thompson, 25, was a protégé of Winteringham's former chef-proprietor Germain Schwab and is regarded as one of the UK's most talented young chefs. Schwab and his wife, Annie, retired in 2005, selling their business to chef-restaurateur Colin McGurran.
McGurran said he was "fully supportive" of Thompson's move. "I wasn't shocked when he told me, because he's been offered so many jobs in the past year, and we could only hold him for so long," he said.
Thompson, who will be replaced by French chef Pierre Gay, takes over at Waldo's from Daniel Galmiche, who left Cliveden at the end of September after four years as executive head chef.
A spokeswoman for Cliveden confirmed that Thompson would have responsibility for Waldo's rather than the entire food operation at the Von Essen-owned hotel. "We were very sorry to lose Daniel, but Robbie is a very exciting young chef and we want him to be the face of Cliveden's fine-dining," she said. "We're all looking forward to working with him."
Galmiche has been linked with the head chef role at the Clermont Club in London's Mayfair.
By Joanna Wood
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