Beckley takes top honours

Paul Beckley, chef de partie at London's Royal Garden hotel, was selected as overall winner of the hotel's chef competition held earlier this month.

Beckley's dish of roasted monkfish with girolle mushroom soufflé on a potato rösti was awarded 146 points out of a possible 200 by a panel of judges made up of executives and senior managers of the hotel. It wins him a weekend for two at the Dormy hotel in Bournemouth.

In second place was first commis chef Tony Coomber, who prepared a roast rack of English lamb with a mixed cabbage cake, and third place went to chef de partie Stephanie Yexley for her trio of summer delights. Prizes for the runners-up included restaurant dinners, chefs' jackets, sets of knives and vouchers.

The competition, organised by executive chef Steve Munkley, presented entrants with three tasks: preparing a written recipe within a set costing; completing 50 written questions; and cooking and presenting their own recipe.