Highgate House’s Lee Gaskins Up For ‘Chef of the Year’

28 Jun 2011

Following two major nominations in the 2011 Carlsberg UK Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards, Highgate House announces with the utmost pride that Head Chef, Lee Gaskins, has been named finalist for ‘Chef of the Year'. The Number One Hotel in Northampton (TripAdvisor), Highgate House, is now represented as a finalist in 3 of the 11 categories for the 2011 Food and Drink Awards.

The Awards, devised by Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership (NEP), are now in their third year and are again aimed at celebrating all that is great about local produce and drink, to recognise excellence within the county's dining venues and to reward those who work so hard within the culinary sector.

The cook-off, and the bid to be named ‘Booker Chef of the Year', took place in the impressive kitchens of the Silverstone circuit, where Highgate House's Lee competed alongside three other chefs.

In the style of ‘Ready Steady Cook', each chef was presented with a basket of produce provided by category sponsor Booker, as well as the two key Northamptonshire ingredients of Harpole breast of lamb and strawberries from Newton, from which they had to create two mouth-watering courses.

Lee explained, "I was thrilled to get through to the cook off and I've thoroughly enjoyed the whole competition process, particularly because there has been so much emphasis placed on using local produce - something I have a great passion for." He continued, "I'm pleased to have done my employers proud and it is fantastic news that Highgate House has been represented in so many finalist categories, we're eagerly awaiting the awards dinner on September 1st!"

The judges charged with the delicious task of sampling the dishes were BBC Radio Northampton's Laura Cook, Mike Coppock from Northampton College, Booker's Regional Director Stuart Hyslop, Steven Saunders who is a Fellow Master Chef of Great Britain and Grant Hawthorne, Master Chef of Great Britain. Said Grant "It's great to see the regionality of British cooking becoming more prominent on both the chef and wider public's radar and a competition like this can only serve to enhance the reasons for visiting Northamptonshire. I think it's a super way to support the county and celebrate not just its wonderful produce, but the people who cook it."

For Stuart, the successful event was merely confirmation of his company's decision to support the Awards. "As a local supplier to many chefs throughout Northamptonshire, Booker understands how important it is to reward those individuals who continue to create outstanding food. So to observe the finalists conjuring up some amazing dishes using our produce makes us very proud to be involved!"

The chefs now have until 1st September to discover their fate when the winners and runners-up in all ten categories will be announced at the Awards Dinner at Holdenby House. Meanwhile, to see them in action at the cook-offs, visit the Awards' website - www.letyourselfgrow.com/foodanddrinkawards

Of course until 8th August there's still the chance to help decide who wins the ‘Restaurant of the Year', among other categories. To vote online for Highgate House to win Restaurant of the Year please click here.

To read more about Highgate House's success in this year's Food and Drink awards please follow the links below;
Highgate House Restaurant of the Year Finalist
Highgate House Local Food Hero Nominee
Highgate House's Head Chef, Chef of the Year Nominee