Craft Guild member wins Pub Restaurant Chef of the Year

Craft Guild member Matthew Shropshall from The Crown Inn in Codsall Wood, Staffordshire, beat off five other finalists in the British Potato Council’s Great Potato Challenge to win this year’s Pub Restaurant Chef of the Year award.

The final, which took part at Ealing, Hammersmith & West London College, offered a range of dishes using different potatoes but it was the King Edward that stood out among the pub restaurant chef finalists.

Shropshall, whose winning dish was twice baked potato, crab and ceps, says he chose the recipe because it made the most of the potato. "The recipe has evolved and developed over time but is one that has always gone down very well. Even so, I'm feeling particularly buoyed by the result," he says.

"I believe the key to success is using fresh local produce, wherever possible – we source our King Edwards locally and they're fantastic. I think chefs have a lot to learn about potatoes; the extent to which they can be used and the many different flavours that are available. The Great Potato Challenge is a great way to achieve that as it encourages chefs to really think about the varieties they are using for a particular dish."

Alongside this challenge was the final of the Student Chef of the Year competition where the winner, Lyndsey Macauley from Glasgow Metropolitan College, won with her dish of Indian style potato cakes filled with spicy courgettes and served with tomato and mango salad, which she designed to fit the criteria of a tasty starter or light bite.

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