Chef Returns for Second Helping at Catering awards
This year's 'Catering in Scotland' award for the Chef of the Year was sponsored by Wilson Storey Halliday (WSH). Keith Wilson, the financial director at WSH, was very proud to present this award to Martin Wishart.
The following article is from the 'Herald' newspaper in Scotland, written by Iain Wilson:
MARTIN Wishart, the Michelin-rated chef, last night won another two titles in the first awards ceremony to span Scotland's catering, hospitality and tourism industries.
He was named chef of the year (award sponsored by Wilson Storey Halliday), while his Restaurant Martin Wishart in Leith received the culinary excellence restaurant of the year award. Sponsored by Catering in Scotland magazine, it was the first time that awards were opened to all individuals and business across all three sectors of the market.
The event, in collaboration with the Federation of Chefs Scotland, is widely expected to become the crème de la crème of so-called catering Oscars because others tend to focus only on one sector, despite these being linked and inter-dependent. An advisory panel of six leading figures in the industries were involved in the judging, including Andrew Fairlie, chef and patron of his Michelin-rated restaurant at Gleneagles, and James Thompson, of the Witchery restaurant and Prestonfield House Hotel, in Edinburgh.
Mr Wishart, who has worked alongside renowned chefs, including Michel Roux at Le Gavroche and Marco Pierre White and Albert Roux at The Grand Hotel, Amsterdam, said of his latest brace of trophies: "I am very pleased, especially for my staff. I like the feedback from customers most of all, but it is nice to be recognised by people across the industry. It was a very pleasant surprise, and I feel especially proud to have been honoured by Scottish catering, particularly because there is so much culinary talent indigenous to Scotland."
He was awarded three rosettes in this year's prestigious AA restaurant guide.
Other accolades picked up since the restaurant opened in 1999 include a Michelin star, and being named Scottish restaurant of the year by Which? magazine and the AA.
What Wilson Storey Halliday had to say about the event. . .
Often hidden behind griddles and pans, today's outstanding chefs are the backbone of some phenomenal Scottish restaurants and they are the inspiration for tomorrow's generation. They are the creative minds behind some of the best recipes and know-how in the country, and their establishments are renowned for producing innovative, world-class dishes.
'As the UK's leading specialist foodservice-management provider, our success depends wholeheartedly upon the dedication, passion and professionalism of our chefs and we are delighted to support the recognition of the industry's most talented individuals,' said Alastair Storey, Managing Director, 'It is for this reason that Wilson Storey Halliday is proud to have sponsored the Chef of the Year Award 2004'.
Special congratulations to Martin for his double triumph on the night.
Catering In Scotland