Two chefs from same pub near Peterborough up for regional award

And the current Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards Chef of the Year runner-up will be looking to go one better after reaching the final in the 2021 competition.

Zak, head chef at The Falcon Inn, at Fotheringhay, which he has run since December 2019 with partner Madison Keys, is one of four chefs in the running for the title –Bart Polinski, Michael O’Gorman and Jim Millar from the Willow and Brook at Apethorpe, just a couple of miles down the road from Fotheringhay, complete the lineup.

Unlike the 2020 competition, which was hit by restrictions, the four finalists actually cooked off together this month – but will not find out who emerges victorious until the awards night in October.

“I put in my application a couple of months ago and then got invited to the cook off with the other finalists in the kitchens at Tresham College,” said Zak, who has competition experience after entering BBC’s MasterChef in 2014.

“ There was a nice kitchen environment and some chef banter during the final, which was great to be part of. It was a real morale boost taking part.

“We had a skills test, preparing two sea bass fillets then we had to prepare a meal with a mystery box of products and the sea bass and finally create a vegan dessert.

“I see this type of thing as a benchmark for where you are at and hopefully I will go one better and get the gold rather than silver.”

Following in Zak’s footsteps is his senior chef de partie at the Falcon, Shawn Monk – who is one of four finalists vying for the Young Chef of the Year award, having taken part in a cook off at Northampton College at the end of July .

“Shawn has been here at the Falcon for about five years, staying with us when we took over,” added Zak.

“He has finished his apprenticeship and now he is doing his sous chef training – and this is recognition for his hard work paying off.

“Similar to me, he is testing himself to see where he is at and to get a close look at what other chefs are doing.”

Before the awards ceremony, it is back to the day jobs, however.

“We were affected like most people in the industry by staff shortage after lockdown and were closed one day of the week,” explained Zak.

“But we recruited well and are now back to full strength, we have most of the tables back indoors and the restaurant up to a much larger capacity; we have just launched a new menu and things are going very well.”