Apprentice at Grays Court Hotel wins national culinary award

16-year-old Fraser Rigby, who works at Grays Court Hotel and The Bow Room Restaurant has beaten off national competition to be named one of the culinary world's rising stars.

Fraser, who spends one day a week studying at York College alongside his apprenticeship, has won the 2023 Inspiring Culinary Generations’ Aspiring Student Chef competition, in the 16-18 age category.

The competition, which aims to acknowledge and encourage excellence in the catering industry, sees aspiring chefs compete in a national inter-college or school cook-off.

Competitors are judged on an observation test, dish challenge, and main course or game dish by a panel of professional chefs including Lesley Waters, who has regularly featured on This Morning and Ready Steady Cook.

Fraser travelled to Bournemouth for this years’ final, the National Cook Off, where he underwent a skills test before presenting his main dish of venison with flavours of cauliflower, chervil and damson, before being crowned the winner.

Top chef Lesley Waters is the head judge at the competition.

Alongside his Production Chef Apprenticeship at York College, Fraser spends four days a week working at the multi award-winning Grays Court Hotel and The Bow Room Restaurant, owned by Helen Heraty, on Chapter House St, York.

The restaurant is most recognised for its ‘leisurely’ nine-course tasting menu, currently retailing at £120, and accompanying wine flight, priced at £80, which have earned it the 2022 ‘Taste of England’ in the 2022 Visit York Awards, and place in the Michelin Guide.

Helen Heraty (Image: Grays Court)

It is also rated five stars on Tripadvisor, with a recent reviewer describing the restaurants’ menu as “the best meal I’ve ever eaten in my life”, adding that “there was no standout single dish. It was more of a concept album where every dish flowed into the next to create a whole,” and “I can’t fault this place. Worth every penny.”

Describing the feeling of being crowned Aspiring Student Chef, Fraser admitted that he “felt such happiness and relief”, adding:

 “I’m incredibly passionate not only about cooking but also the sourcing of high quality, local and seasonal ingredients, growing my own produce, regular foraging trips around my countryside village and fermenting and preserving things to heighten their flavour.

“I’m really enjoying my apprenticeship. I feel like I am able to learn in a different way. It’s hands-on and I’m gaining experience with people in the industry. One day I’d love to open my own restaurant.

“Having said that, being 16, I am very new to the world of food and the hospitality industry as a whole, I have a lot to learn as I’m trying to develop my own ideas and style of cooking.”

Graham Fyfe, Hospitality Tutor of York College and University Centre expressed his delight at Fraser’s success, adding:

“It is a fantastic achievement for Fraser to have won The Inspiring Culinary Generations competition. Fraser brings a mature attitude to college and applies this to all areas of his work.

“He inspires other members of the group, even though he may not realise it.”