Rising star Sam Eke from Bedlington is named Inn Collection Group's Young Chef of the Year

Sam Eke, 22, works at The Commissioners Quay Inn in Blyth.

A young chef from Bedlington has been crowned The Inn Collection Group’s Young Chef of the Year.

A member of the kitchen team at The Commissioners Quay Inn in Blyth, Sam Eke, 22, wowed a judging panel of professional chefs with a roast lamb rump served with a celeriac puree, red wine jus and chantenay carrots.

Cooked to perfection and elegantly presented following an hour’s cooking time, he was praised for the flavour of his dish, which The Inn Collection Group customers will get to sample themselves later in the year.

He triumphed over four fellow talented gastronomes who work at The Hog’s Head Inn in Alnwick, The Kingslodge Inn in Durham and The Seaburn Inn in Sunderland, and his winning dish will now grace an upcoming specials menu across the group’s 28-site estate.

A delighted Sam Eke receives his Young Chef of the Year certificate and trophy.

It is quite the fillip for the budding chef, who began his journey as a kitchen porter aged 16, joined The Commissioners Quay Inn in September 2020 and was promoted to chef in April last year.

He said: “It was my first ever competition and once the competition got started, I was OK. The build-up was a bit nerve-wracking, but I had a few dry runs so I knew what I needed to do.

“I came up with my dish because I knew the meat is quite tender and has a lot of flavour and thought that something sweet would go very well with it. It needed a bit of richness so I thought red wine jus and the carrots, it just needed some vegetables!

“I’m looking forward to seeing my dish out there across the inns and seeing the other chefs cooking it, I think they are probably going to do it a lot better than me!”

And while Sam’s dish took the overall prize, the standards also delivered by Scott Anderson, Hanna Hope, Jack Stewart and Chris Prescott were incredible high, with ICG’s head of food Tom Adlam hailing the efforts of all five finalists.

He said: “All the contestants did themselves proud and they represented The Inn Collection Group fantastically. Every plate of food that we saw today would be appropriate to go on the menu at one of our Inns and they should be extremely satisfied with what they have done. They all hit the brief.”