Marc Wilkinson, Head Chef at the Mirabelle restaurant at Eastbourne's five-star Grand Hotel, has reached the semi-finals of the Chef of the Year Competition.
Out of 2,000 entries only 40 chefs have got through to the next round of the prestigious culinary competition that will take place in London next February. It is the first time Marc, 30, has entered the contest.
Each chef had to submit a three-course menu and Marc's winning combination started with warm beignets of spiced cockles surrounding a cod brandade and dressed in basil. For his next course Marc chose roasted rump of lamb with a sweetbread in truffle crust and tarragon and tomato jus. His winning dessert was an apple parfait encased in a crisp shell and served with a mousse of vanilla cheese and raisin sauce.
Marc joined The Grand Hotel in July on the same day the Mirabelle reopened following a complete refurbishment. The re-launch was part of the 18-month renovation programme currently nearing completion at the hotel.
MIRABELLE CHEFS SWEEP THE BOARD AT HOSPITALITY WEEK ’99
Chefs from the award-winning Mirabelle Restaurant at Eastbourne’s five-star Grand Hotel scored a unique first during the country’s leading hospitality event.
Every member of the team won an award at the cookery championships organised as part of Hospitality Week ’99 held at the Birmingham NEC. From hundreds of entrants from around the world, they were the only team where each member won a prize.
Head Chef Simon Hulstone and his team of six came home from the hospitality industry’s major annual show with three gold medals, one silver, two bronze medals and two certificates of merit.
"We were thrilled as we were the only hotel that went up to collect a prize each time," "
The three gold awards were won by Simon, Mirabelle Pastry Chef Nicolas Jager and Head Waiter Eric de Bressing in the class that combined culinary and waiting skills. The team had to cook a meal within a time limit and then serve it to two guests and one of the judges.
Jaco Strooh won the silver medal in the pasta class and fellow Mirabelle Chef Lucy Hyder won a bronze medal in the junior pasta class. Simon scooped the other bronze medal in the new airline catering category, Gategourmet Masterclass, in the British Open Cookery Championships. He had just 30 minutes to prepare, cook and present a main course suitable for first class in-flight service.
The prestigious team honour is the most recent in a string of successes for The Mirabelle, which also holds two AA Rosettes.
The Mirabelle Restaurant has been named as one of the best in the country. In the 1999 edition of The Good Food Guide the restaurant was awarded eight marks out of ten for its cooking, an extra mark on last year’s score. Only 15 restaurants nationwide were awarded marks of eight or more. The Mirabelle was the only restaurant in the whole of the South East to gain such a high accolade.
The jump from 64% to 70% means The Grand is now the top rated five- star resort hotel in the UK. No other coastal five-star hotel received such a high percentage grading in the AA's latest review.
The accolade recognises the phenomenal restoration programme that started after Elite Hotels acquired The Grand in April 1998. Currently nearing completion, the refurbishment is the largest in the hotel's 124- year history.
Every aspect of the hotel came under scrutiny in the latest inspection by the AA. In addition to awarding the nationally recognised star symbols, the AA also gives percentage gradings to recognise even higher standards of excellence.
Grand Hotel General Manager Jonathan Webley said: “The grading was a result of the improvement to the building and improvement to the service and it puts us ahead of all the other five-star resort hotels in the country.
"I am so proud that The Grand Hotel is now at the forefront of all the other hotels in the same class. The aim of the refurbishment was to provide The Grand with the standards of facilities expected at a premier resort hotel and international conference venue and we are extremely pleased this has been recognised."
The grading is the latest accolade for Elite Hotels, which also owns Ashdown Park at Wych Cross, near Forest Row, East Sussex, and Tylney Hall, at Rotherwick, near Hook, in Hampshire.
Last week Tylney Hall won the new RAC Gold Ribbon award that also recognises the highest level of achievement in the UK hospitality industry. Only 50 hotels nationwide received the top award.