SUDBURY House Hotel’s executive chef is set to go head to head with the cream of the crop after being handpicked to compete in the Great British Menu.
Restaurant 56’s Andrew Scott, who has not missed a single episode since the programme first aired on the BBC in 2006, was delighted to be offered the chance to prove his mettle and represent his beloved region.
“Being part of BBC Two's Great British Menu has been a dream of mine since the programme first launched,” said the executive head chef. “When I received the news that I had been selected as one of the three chefs to represent the central region, I was euphoric and determined to make colleagues, family and friends proud."
Andrew follows in the footsteps of his sous chef Nick Bennett, who reached the finals of MasterChef: The Professionals last year, but narrowly lost out to Mark Stinchcombe.
Nick said: “I am so excited that Andrew has finally got his moment on television. Now he knows what it is like to cook with television cameras, critical judges and several million viewers watching you."
Andrew entered and won his first cookery competition at the age of just 13. The judge offered him his first kitchen job as a dishwasher at Whately Hall in Banbury. Three years later, he enrolled at North Oxfordshire Catering College, but continued to work part-time at the hotel and restaurant.
After spells working for Simon Haigh at Mallory Court in Warwickshire and Simon Rogan at L’Enclume, he was appointed head chef at Micheline star restaurant The Curlew in East Sussex. In 2014, he joined Restaurant 56 at Sudbury House where he has been striving for a Michelin star ever since. Last year, Andrew and his team received three AA Rosettes and the Gastronomic Restaurant of the Year gong at The Oxfordshire Restaurant Awards. By that time Andrew had already successfully gone through the Great British Menu’s grueling selection process.
Ulrike Le Roux, general manager at Sudbury House Hotel, added: "Andrew heads up a great team of chefs and we all wish him well in this competition."
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