A FLEDGING chef from the Forest cooked up a storm to win ‘Young Chef of the Year’ at the inaugural Gloucestershire Foodie Awards last month. 

Liam Robbins, who works as a trainee chef at the Speech House Hotel, saw off competition from young chefs across the county to win the prestigious award - the day before his 18th birthday.

He was put forward for the award by Speech House’s Naomi Hands and Head Chef Gareth Jenkins, who also attended the awards night with him at Blackfriars in Gloucester at the end of March. 

The awards aim to celebrate the best makers, creators and providers of local, regional food, drinks and hospitality experiences. 

One other Forest business picked up an award - Longhope’s Farmers Boy, who came home with ‘Pub of the Year’.

The other Forest finalists were Harts Barn Cookery School in Longhope, which was nominated for Cookery School of the Year, and Coleford’s Forest Deli, which was up for Food and Drink Retailer of the Year.

Young chef Liam, who lives in Berry Hill,  is one of three chefs working through an apprenticeship with the team at Speech House through Gloucestershire College. 

He began the apprenticeship after taking part in an events evening at the hotel whilst still at school. 

He enjoyed it so much that he began pestering head chef Gareth with emails asking for a job, before he finally gave in.  

On why he wanted to be a chef, Liam said: “Videos on YouTube inspired me a lot, people who live on the road and do their own cooking. 

“They made me want to have a go at it myself, and here I am.” 

Naomi said of the foodie awards: “The awards opened for nominations and we were looking at things we could apply for, I said to Gareth we’ve got three young chefs in the kitchen, and we thought Liam would be really good to put forward for it.” 

Liam took part in a cook-off against the other two finalists at Gloucestershire College in Cheltenham ahead of the awards.

He was set the challenge of cooking a dish to a forest-themed brief, using a whole chicken and local and seasonal produce. 

He used wild boar and asparagus for his dish, which clearly impressed the judges.

“Obviously I’m biased, but Liam stood out miles above the others in the cook off”, Naomi said. 

“From our perspective its amazing.

“We love investing in young talent, the people that come and work for us we will train and develop and give them opportunities to grow.

“We’re super proud of Liam that he put himself into an uncomfortable situation, rose to the challenge and did it, and handled it like a pro. 

“Here’s to the next one!”  

On the night of the awards Liam had an anxious wait to find out the result, with his award one of the last to be announced.

He said: “It was a bit scary, I was nervous the whole time.

“But the food was great, and it was a really nice place to be, I really enjoyed it”.

Liam is now looking to the future as he aims to go as far as he can in the profession. 

For his apprenticeship, which he is due to finish this year, Liam has to create  his own dishes on which he will be marked, which he is training for with the Speech House team and two fellow apprentices.

He said: “I love it here, I want to work here for a while before I even think about moving anywhere else.

“I want to start taking photos of my food and build up my Instagram, so I can start to get noticed more online.

“I also want to be open to other opportunities, like going to other restaurants to see how they do things.”