Nathan Lane from The Cross at Kenilworth wins BCF Young Chef of the Year 2019

Nathan Lane from The Cross at Kenilworth has been announced as the British Culinary Federation Young Chef of the Year 2019.

Nathan, who earlier this year was a Bocuse D’Or UK Commis with the team in Lyon, was awarded the title at a ceremony held at the University College Birmingham (UCB) on Monday, November 11.

He was also awarded the prize for the best main course in the competition, cooking pan-roasted rib eye of Irish Hereford beef, Roscoff onion farci, carrot glace, crushed celeriac, crispy potato and bordelaise sauce.

Speaking to The Staff Canteen, Nathan, who will be leaving his current role to move to New York and work in Per Se in January 2020, said: "I'm a bit speechless to be honest. It's been a big year this year with Bocuse D'or and all my stages but this has just topped my year off! I'm really happy with the result."

On the competition he added: "It's a lot to do in two hours but it's good to see how far you can push yourself, I pushed myself to the limit today and came out on top. I'd recommend this to other young chefs, if you want to challenge yourself and put your name on the map then do it." 

In second place this year was Samuel King from The Ritz who cooked turnip tagliatelle, rib eye with lovage salsify and red wine and a Grand Marnier souffle. He was also awarded for the best dessert. 

In third place was Luke Draper from Cheals of Henley who also won the dest starter. His menu was Jerusalem artichoke tart, Irish ribeye with gnocchi and caramelised apple.

This year the 15 finalists had two hours to cook a vegetarian starter, a main using rib eye of Irish beef and a dessert of their choice. As the winner, Nathan will now be automatically entered into the Young National Chef of the Year.

Peter Griffiths, President of the British Culinary Federation said: "I'm very pleased with how it has gone today, there have been some exceptional standards and the cooking skills have been a credit to all of the young competitors.

"This competition has been going for 22 years and grows bigger every year - we've seen a very worthy winner in Nathan who cooked tremendously today."