Head Judges: Adrian Kirikmaa and Steve Ashworth
Born in Bristol, Adrian Kirikmaa has been Head Chef at Billesley Manor, Stratford-upon-Avon and was the founder of the original Chef’s Forum. He was also the inspirational RWE Curriculum Restaurant Manager at City of Bristol College, where he helped to train many of the city’s top chefs. Whilst teaching at the college, he won the Bristol Good Food Awards: Best Ambassador for Food 2014.
Adrian is currently Catering Development Manager at St Monica Trust, as well as being is involved in much charity work, including Bristol Soup Run Trust, ARA, Dementure and loneliness in the community. He champions cooking with the local community to outreach parts of Bristol that need support.
Steve Ashworth is one of the South West’s most well-known foodie faces. He has an unrivalled passion for good food, and will be a familiar face to anyone who enjoys eating out or attending food events in the South West.
A tax specialist by trade, Steve’s reputation as more than a gifted amateur was cemented in 2013 when he won the title of Best Dish at the South West’s Chef of the Year competition. Since then, he has gone on to organise charity pop-up restaurants, host several food and drink festivals in Taunton and performed a number of public food demonstrations where local produce was key to his dishes.
A law graduate, Sarah entered the hospitality industry through a part-time job at the Revolution vodka bar. After graduating, Sarah moved to The Bell Inn at Horndon, Essex, where she was promoted to Restaurant Supervisor.
Stints followed at the Star Inn in Harome, North Yorkshire under the Perns, on projects with L’Ortolan’s Alan Murchison and for Malmaison before she joined Jamie’s Italian in Bath in 2008 as Department Manager. “After several years in high-end independents I really wanted to understand how to deliver fantastic standards in a bigger environment alongside all the pressure that comes with.” After five years with Jamie Oliver, during which she was promoted to General Manager in 2010 and won GM of the Year, Sarah moved to the Pig near Bath as Restaurant Manager ahead of the opening of the hotel in early 2014. Winning a Hotel Catey for Restaurant Manager in 2016 she was then promoted to Hotel Director the same year.
Tristan Darby is founder and tutor of Bristol Wine School, and has spent most of the last 20 years in the hospitality and wine trade interspersed with touring as a professional actor, singer and theatre director.
Tristan is the drinks columnist for The Bath Magazine and The Bristol Magazine and runs wine courses for IWC regional wine merchant of the year, Great Western Wine in Bath. Tristan also trains wine and catering professionals, consults for bars and restaurants, works with cookery schools, has hosted wine events with some of the region’s top chefs, and has judged for both Bristol Good Food Awards and Bath Good Food Awards.
Tristan can occasionally be found singing around Bristol & Bath with his jazz and blues quartet, and recently performed at Islington O2 with a talented band of wine trade celebrities for Skin Côntact, raising over £10k for Comic Relief.
Kathryn Minchew aka the Pyromaniac Chef runs one of the world’s smallest restaurants from a Kota Hut in her garden. The academic turned marketing consultant has always loved food; she completed a two-year diploma with the Leiths School of Food and Wine whilst doing her A-levels and reached the semi-finals of Masterchef in 2008, but preferred working in quiet solitude to joining a busy professional kitchen. She considers Gloucester Studio to be her muse, providing both inspiration for the imaginative dishes she creates and a location for the diners that seek out the unique opportunity it offers.
Everything served in her restaurant is cooked over fire in a concept Michel Roux Jr described as “it’s bonkers but it works” when he visited for his Channel Four series, Hidden Restaurants with Michel Roux Jr. Kathryn has written two books, The Pyromaniac Chef Cook Book and Hygge Huts.
Rupert has impressive culinary experience that is rooted in the South West, from his early days studying at Bath College and an influential apprenticeship with Gary Jones at Homewood Park, to time spent working under Nick Clarke at the Michelin-starred Newbury Manor and Heston Blumenthal at his 3 Michelin star The Fat Duck in Bray. More recently Rupert held a Head Chef position at The Swan at Swineford prior to making his move to Bath’s independently-owned Abbey Hotel to run their popular Allium restaurant in the heart of the city.
Over the course of his career, Rupert has developed a distinctive culinary style with signature dishes that show-off classic flavours in a new guise. Guests at Allium can expect a seasonal, changing menu that reflects the best ingredients to deliver smile-inducing, delicious and honest food.
Andy Clarke is a TV Food Series Producer and has been involved in television cookery for 12 years. Some of his most popular credits include “James Martin’s American Adventure” currently on ITV, “James Martin’s French Adventure” and “Saturday Kitchen Live”. Keen cook and wine enthusiast, Andy has also produced and directed live cooking demonstrations at BBC Good Food Shows and trains chefs who are not used to cooking on TV by helping them make the transition from kitchen to camera.
As well as having a drive time slot on Laura Rawling’s BBC Radio Bristol show, he hosts wine events all over Bristol. Andy is also taking part in the “Too Many Critics” event at Bambalan in early March where he will be designing the cocktails and attempting to make a mezze dish!
In April, Andy will host “An Evening with Andy Clarke” at the Thornbury Arts Festival where he will be talking about his life in food telly. Andy also writes on his own food and drink website one4thetable.com.
As well as judging, Andy will be one of the compères at this year’s Bristol Good Food Awards.
Shonette Laffy is arguably one of Bristol’s most prolific foodie bloggers; A Life Less Organised provides comprehensive food guides and event listings for the city. When she’s not working her 9 to 5 as a Digital Marketing Manager at Destination Bristol, she also writes about Bristol’s endlessly exciting food scene for a variety of websites including Best of Bristol and Foozie. It’s safe to say that when Shonette’s not writing about the best places to eat and drink, she’s usually eating and drinking at one of them.
Bill Davis is a well-established journalist and publisher who has been based in Bristol for the past 20 years; starting out on the Evening Post where he rose to become Features Editor. He worked with legendary food critic, Mark Taylor to develop the paper’s food pages into the well-respected platform for honest, constructive criticism that they are today. After leaving the Post, he worked on several national newspapers and magazines, and also closely with Chris Hull of the Good Food Awards, before launching a successful publishing company and specialist communications agency.
Bill is still a keen foodie, of course, and keeps his taste buds fighting fit with regular visits to some of Bristol’s most exciting restaurants and cafés. He’s also a passionate Welshman (yes, that is a daffodil on his head) and is keen to see some of the culinary talent here in Bristol spread over the bridge so he doesn’t have to travel quite so far when he wants a good meal out!
Richard Knighting is the Head Chef and co-owner of Corkage, Bath’s premier wine bar.
After seven years in international business, he decided a career change was in order, and began his catering career at Marco Pierre White’s Michelin-starred Mirabelle in London, before going on to work for celebrated chef, Jean-Georges Vongerichten.
Richard moved to Bath in 2006, where he successfully ran Bath’s highly acclaimed Gastropub, The Marlborough Tavern for six years, winning both local and national awards and appearing in several food guides. He also worked as a freelance consultant for three years in some of Bath’s best restaurants while he took time to look for his own venue. Clients included Circus, Clayton’s Kitchen, Sam’s Kitchen and Gascoyne Place. He also dabbled in outdoor catering projects and ran a small street food project to broaden his experience of working in small tight spaces with basic equipment.
David Rose has been a lover of good food and cooking since he was a small child, when he used to sit in the kitchen, one eye on his homework, the other watching his Mum cooking delicious, interesting dishes from around the world.
Diagnosed as a Coeliac in 2011, David has since been championing gluten-free dining across the entire South West region. Although he runs a software business by day, he is often found recommending the best places in the local area for gluten-free diners to enjoy a delicious meal out.
Kalpna Woolf is an award-winning ex-BBC Production Head with years of experience developing successful food programmes for national and international audiences. Her passion for healthy, flavoursome Asian cooking shines through in her recently published book, Spice Yourself Slim which focuses on harnessing the power of spices for general well-being and to create delicious dishes.
Kalpna was instrumental in setting-up Bristol’s biggest food festival, incorporating the BBC Food and Farming Awards. In 2013 she won the prestigious Asian Women of Achievement Award. She has also founded the inspirational project, 91 Ways to Build a Global City which uses the power of food to bring the 91 language communities of Bristol together to break down barriers and build common ground. In recognition of this achievement, Kalpna was awarded the title of BBC West Food Hero 2017 in the BBC Food and Farming Awards.
Barny Haughton is a chef, restaurateur and cookery teacher. He has run three award-winning restaurants in Bristol over the last 25 years (Rocinantes, Quartier Vert and Bordeaux Quay). He now dedicates his time to his role as founding Director and lead teacher at Square Food Foundation, Bristol’s community cookery school.
Based in Knowle West, South Bristol, Square Food Foundation teaches people from all backgrounds and of all ages and abilities to cook good food from scratch. Barny is widely regarded as an advocate for food education and has taught adults and children to cook for almost 20 years. His innovative methods and passion for encouraging people to eat well and enjoy food are widely recognised. Barny was named Food Hero by the BBC Radio 4 Food & Farming Awards in 2016.
In addition Barny is Professor of Food Education Studies at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Italy.
Steve Shore has worked in some of the finest country house hotels; his skills and tastebuds taking him up the culinary ladder. His first head chef position, at Relais and Chateaux Hotel Mallory Court, Leamington Spa, was where he made a name for himself, being recognised by all major Good Food guides.
In 1996 Stephen opened the much-loved Moody Goose Restaurant in Bath and subsequently The Moody Goose @The Old Priory, Midsomer Norton where he gained a reputation of excellence achieving six years of the enviable Michelin Star and was highly acclaimed by AA and Good Food inspectors.
Since (partially) hanging up his Apron in 2012, Steve has joined Arthur David as a Development Chef and Account Manager. He assists chefs across the South West with sourcing the finer fruit and vegetables from around the world and assists them with their menu development. Steve also works closely with local schools and colleges, promoting fresh seasonal produce when creating recipes to highlight his skills and knowledge.
A seasoned veteran with over a decade of experience, Mat’s career has taken in the full gamut of the “brown” side of the industry. Stints with both national and local chains as well as time in the consumables and engineering side of the business have given him a well-rounded view of the coffee world.
Four years ago, Mat North opened Full Court Press, a small specialist multi-roaster coffee shop in the heart of Bristol. His knowledge, passion and attention to detail ensured FCP quickly became a forerunner in the city’s scene.
It is FCP’s excellent customer service, coupled with the team’s ability to articulate their extensive knowledge in an approachable way that has ensured Full Court Press not only serve exceptional coffee, but have sparked an interest in specialty coffee among their customers.
He is also the author of the acclaimed book, Coffee – A Modern Field Guide, and is currently National Coordinator for the UK chapter of the Speciality Coffee Association.
Rachel Demuth is a professional plant based chef and cookery teacher. She ran Demuths Restaurant for 26 years and in 2001, Rachel opened Demuths Cookery School to teach people how to cook delicious, uncomplicated and accessible vegetarian and vegan food and share her passion for plant based cookery.
Rachel’s regular travels have seen her exploring widely, in particular India and the Far East, where she enjoys discovering exciting ingredients and techniques to bring back to the cookery school. She has taught overseas in Morocco, France and Italy and her reputation as the leading expert in plant based cuisine continues to grow.
Jo Ingleby is a chef, food writer and creative cookery teacher who was awarded ‘BBC Cook of The Year’ in the Food and Farming Awards 2015. Jo is the Head Chef at Redcliffe Children’s Centre, Bristol, where she cooks for 140 children aged 2-4 as well as co-ordinating the Food Project where children explore food through their own ideas rather than recipes. In 2016 Redcliffe won Best Nursery Food in the Nursery World Awards and their book ‘Young Children’s Experimental Cookery’ is due to be published by Routledge in 2017.
Jo is the former Head Chef of Demuths Restaurant and also worked at their Cookery School for many years. Jo is passionate about encouraging people, especially young children, to grow and cook fresh seasonal produce and she works freelance teaching classes for many local farms and food events, developing and writing recipes and promoting sustainable and seasonal cookery.
Ryan Hanson has a career spanning many years, primarily in London and the South West. Working in and managing 5-star hotels, Michelin-starred and Rosette restaurants as well as some more chic venues including River Cottage HQ Park Farm for Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Allium Brasserie in Bath and more recently, uber exclusive, Camp Kerala at Glastonbury.
Ryan has a passion for delicious food, interesting wine and above all, welcoming service; taking great influence from American restauranteur Danny Meyer’s approach to personable service and customer care.
Throughout his career Ryan has worked in teams that have collected awards most recently winning Best Hotel Wine List nationally from ImBibe magazine as well as Best Front of House and Best Wine List at the Bath Good Foods Awards when he was heading up Allium Brasserie.
Currently managing the Hospitality Department at Bath College Ryan is helping to inspire more young people into this exciting industry.
Tom Green started his career in London under Herbert Berger, before moving to Bristol in 2001 to work with Michael Caines. He went on to be Head Chef at the highly acclaimed Riverstation restaurant for three years before opening and heading up the kitchen team at the award-winning Rosemarino restaurant.
In 2010, Tom started his own high-end, bespoke private event company called The Flavour Smith, and joined Fosters Events early in 2016 following their purchase of the business as Chef Director.
His vast experience of delivering large scale and high quality events in some of the most demanding environments and to the most discerning customers is demonstrated in Fosters success. More recently this has included their appointment to deliver both the events and retail catering at Bristol Old Vic, upon completion of their major refurbishment in Autumn 2018.
Tom loves eating out and is a passionate supporter of local food and suppliers which is reflected in his menus.
Luke Sapsed is a specialist consultant at Reach, a Bristol-based food and drinks packaging design company. He has spent 30 years in sales and marketing for companies, including Diageo, Scottish and Newcastle and Yeo Valley, as well as launching his own successful drinks brand, Koji in 2011.
As a seasoned food and drink professional, Luke is passionate that produce should be honest, clean and fair. In his own words: “I believe that the future lies completely in getting our food seasonally & from as close to where we consume it as is possible. Preferably with as little done to it on the way as possible. There is no quick way to cure the world’s dietary ills but I am pretty sure that the supermarkets won’t be supplying the silver bullet!”
Luke was also one of the founders of the UK’s first ‘Slow Food’ markets in Bristol.
Joe Cussens got my first taste of hospitality aged 14, working as a kitchen porter at a local hotel. It taught him not to be afraid of hard work, greasy pans or temperamental chefs.
He now heads up The Bath Pub Company, an independent pub group that operates four gastropubs, all based in Bath. “Our aim is simple; to run great pubs that people love to visit, and build a company that people love to work for.” Joe entered the pub industry in 2006 when he opened The Marlborough Tavern with his old school friend and business partner, Justin Sleath. Two years later they took on The Chequers, followed by The Hare & Hounds in 2012. Their fourth site, The Locksbrook Inn opened in May 2016.
Prior to moving to Bath and playing around with pubs, Joe lived and worked in London in advertising and marketing.
Scott Lucas has over three decades of catering experience in England and abroad. His full-time jobs and stages have been at some of the finest country house hotels in the UK; including The Waterside Inn, Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons and Windsor Castle, but Scott also has experience of working in over 200 establishments as a relief chef which gave him a unique insight to various aspects of the catering industry. Scott spent six years teaching and lecturing at City of Bristol College, before starting his own training and consultancy company.
During his career he has won a host of awards and accolades, and in 2010 was made a Master Chef of Great Britain – the first chef in the county of Bristol to hold the title. From 2006 to 2016 Scott served as the regional representative for Bristol and the West Country of The Craft Guild of Chefs. Scott has also been involved in judging various UK competitions, including The Guild of Fine Food’s Great Taste Awards.
Originally from Naples – the birthplace of pizza – Daniele Quaglietta left Italy to spread his skills and knowledge about great Italian cooking to the people of Bath.
Since settling in the city, Dani has certainly made his mark on the restaurant scene. His first venture, Yammo won both local and national awards and was a great indicator for things to come. After leaving Yammo, Dani has successfully run several local restaurants, including Amarone as well as becoming Director of Ponte Vecchio.
In January 2017, Dani launched Piattino – a delightful and popular music bar serving up small Italian plates and pizza.
Helen Rich founded the Taste of Bath hamper company in 2015, to celebrate the best artisan food and drink in the Bath area, and make it simpler for foodies all over the country to discover unmissable treats. Formerly a producer herself, making and selling a range of hugely popular plates under the name Rich Pickings, she knows all about the challenges of running a small food business, and what it takes to become successful.
In 2016, she formally closed Rich Pickings to concentrate on Taste of Bath, which now works with over 30 hand-picked local artisans, featuring products made within 15 miles of Bath in a range of bestselling hampers. A second range, Taste of Bristol, is now in the works so if there’s anything delicious to be discovered in the local area, Helen will know all about it.
Having successfully managed gastropubs, including The Railway Inn and The Wellington for several years, James understands what customers want when dining out, “a great level of service with top quality food and drink.” He finally took the plunge in 2016 and now holds tenancy at the iconic Salamander in Bath. James and the team have revolutionised the establishment, recently winning Best British at the Bath Good Food Awards and a Gold Medal with Taste of the West.
Owner of the Good Food Awards, Chris admits to being new to the food industry but has huge “experience” of eating in fine food establishments throughout Europe, Middle East, Asia and Africa.
With two sets of twins at secondary school and a wife who is a busy Practice Nurse, Chris is a keen home cook, even if the preferred dinner time food is often less exciting.
“I’ve been organising high level events for more than ten years now and with Bristol thriving as it is now, I thought this event should be the best of it’s type in the country”
Under Chris’s stewardship the awards are growing in stature and integrity and with more refining promised in future years.
“The public interest is impressive, with ten’s of thousands of people voting and hundreds of people accessing the shortlist and winners web pages every single day. There’s no advertising, or related advertising and I think that makes these awards really important”
Mark Taylor is a nationally-respected food journalist and critic. He has reviewed restaurants for the Bristol Post for the past 20 years as well as writing regular features and reviews for Crumbs magazine and Cotswold Life. His other freelance work has included a regular column in The Sunday Times, plus food features for the Financial Times, Independent on Sunday and The Guardian.
Mark is a consultant for the Bristol Good Food Awards.
Genevieve Taylor is a food writer, food stylist and presenter who has been calling Bristol home for over 20 years. A well respected author, she is the current Co-Chair of the Guild of Food Writers.
Genevieve has written cook books on all manner of edible topics – from stews, soups and pies to a seasonal egg-recipe diary. Her latest book was published under the MasterChef brand in March 2017 and is on the wonders of global street food. Genevieve is also a regular contributor to Olive, Sainsbury’s and Countryfile magazines.
With a lifelong love of the great outdoors, Genevieve is really passionate about cooking over fire and her next book – THE ULTIMATE WOOD FIRED OVEN COOKBOOK – will be published by Quadrille in Spring 2018. She is Food Ambassador for the barbecue brand, Napoleon Grills and you can find lots of delicious recipe films on her YouTube channel, GenevieveEatsTV.
Genevieve will be the compère for this year’s Bristol Good Food Awards.
