David Thompson, head chef at Nahm restaurant in the Halkin hotel, London, has picked up the Outstanding London Chef award at the Tio Pepe Carlton London Restaurant Awards 2003.
Thompson has been in the capital for just two years since arriving from his native Australia, where he had his own restaurant, the Darley Street Thai, in Sydney.
Competition for the title included Gordon Ramsay, Henry Harris of Racine and Bruce Poole of Chez Bruce.
Although Ramsay missed out on the chef award, he had the consolation of winning both Restaurant of the Year and French Restaurant of the Year for his self-titled Chelsea restaurant.
Nahm, which opened in 2001, was awarded its first Michelin star in January 2002 and is the only Thai restaurant in the UK to have one. The restaurant was up for the Oriental Restaurant of the Year title at the awards but narrowly missed out.