Chef Kenny Atkinson hopes to cook for future king

Apr 6 2010 The Journal

TOP North East chef Kenny Atkinson is set to begin his latest TV culinary battle against two Yorkshire rivals in a bid to cook a meal fit for our future king.

The 34-year-old will be championing top quality local ingredients from the National Trust’s Wallington estate in the heart of Northumberland as he fights for the honour to cook at a glittering banquet hosted by Prince Charles.

Kenny is hoping to be one of eight regional chefs to win through to the final round of this year’s Great British Menu, which begins its latest run on BBC Two on April 6.

This is the second time Kenny has appeared in the Great British Menu. Last year the food genius, who has just opened his own restaurant at the new luxury Rockcliffe Hotel near Darlington, County Durham, beat off tough competition from other rising UK chefs – including fellow North Eastener Ian Matfin – to be creating the final menu at a banquet for our troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

This year Kenny’s regional rivals will be Yorkshire men Tim Bilton of the Butcher’s Arms at Hepworth, near Holmfirth, and Lee Bennett of London’s acclaimed Le Pont de la Tour. All 24 chefs taking part in the series have been charged with unearthing the very finest produce from the farms, gardens and neighbourhoods surrounding their local National Trust house or countryside location.

Kenny, who came to national attention after winning the Scilly Isles their first Michelin star in 2008 before moving to the White Room at Seaham Hall in County Durham and clinching another within months of taking over the reins, will be using rabbit and venison from the Wallington estate at Cambo as well as fresh produce from the property’s farm shop.

After putting their culinary skills to the test in the kitchen, each chef will be judged daily by a former Great British Menu champion.

But in a new twist, the chef with the least number of points on Thursday will be eliminated from the competition, with only two going through to the Friday cook-off for the Great British Menu judges, food experts Matthew Fort, Prue Leith and Oliver Peyton.