Royal Oak chef wins Craft Guild award
Dominic Chapman, head chef at the Royal Oak in Maidenhead, has been named Pub Chef of the Year.
The accolade was announced at the Craft Guild of Chefs Awards in London, with Dominic being presented with his award by the guild's patron, the Countess of Wessex.
The pub is leased from Fuller's by Sir Michael Parkinson and his son Nick. Dominic has been head chef since January 2007, establishing strong supplier relationships and source as much as possible locally.
He was also shortlisted as Chef of the Year at the Publican Food and Drink Awards 2008. The pub won its first Bib Gourmand award in 2008 and retained it in January 2009.
Dominic's passion for food is hereditary, with his family having run the acclaimed Castle Hotel in Taunton for more than 50 years.
Over the years, he has picked up culinary knowledge from working overseas in Australia and New Zealand, and worked alongside chefs in the UK including the Fat Duck's Heston Blumenthal and Kensington Place's Rowley Leigh.
Nick Vadis, chairman of the Craft Guild of Chefs, said: "The awards are in their 16th year and go from strength to strength. We had a phenomenal number of entries this year, which really goes to highlight the passion and skills in all sectors of our industry.
"Judging this year was particularly hard and the decisions were well debated by our judging panels."
The other shortlisted pub chef finalists were Mick Illingworth of the Thatcher's Arms, Mount Bures, Essex, and Michael Ward of the Highwayman Inn, Burrow, Kirkby Lonsdale, Lancashire.
- Heston Blumenthal - owner of the Hinds Head pub in Bray, Berkshire, as well as the Fat Duck, received the guild's Special Achievement Award for his commitment to the industry.
