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| Alex Claridge |
The names of the chefs participating in this year’s
Great British Menu have been announced by the BBC and there’s some big names and from Birmingham’s point of view the biggest news is that Alex Claridge is participating in the competition. He is one of four chefs taking part in the Central region (Midlands and East Anglia) heats and he is the only one who actually works in the region. Two of the other chefs work, inevitably, in London/Home Counties and the fourth works in Wiltshire - the publicity describes the location as “the Cotswolds”.
The other three chefs are Sally Abé who is Head Chef at the
Michelin-starred gastropub,
The Harwood Arms in London, and she qualifies for our region’s heats by virtue of having been born in Mansfield in Nottinghamshire but she trained in Sheffield and then moved to London and has worked there ever since; Niall Keating, Executive Chef at the 2 Michelin-starred Whatley Manor in Wiltshire, who was born in Staffordshire and started work as a kitchen porter at the age of 15 at the
Fitzherbert Arms in Stafford and then working in Bath and then for Sat Bains in Nottingham as
chef de partie and Dom Robinson who is Chef Owner at the one Michelin-starred
The Blackbird in Bagnor in Berkshire - he was brought up in Derbyshire and worked at
Fischer’s in Baslow before moving to work in London and at one time in Dubai.
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| Sally Abé |
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| Dom Robinson |
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| Niall Keating |
So Alex Claridge is the only Chef in the Central Region heat who does not have a Michelin star. I don’t see that as a problem. He is also the only Chef in the Central region heat to actually work in the Midlands. After my wonderful lunch at The Wilderness last week (see Blog 85) I’ve no doubt that Alex Claridge could easily find himself cooking at the banquet.
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