Guest Blog: Top Chef, Matt Budden brings Us The Latest Dorset Chef News!

We at The Chefs’ Forum love to hear of individual news, accreditation and triumphs of our members.  We would like to thank Matt Budden for sharing the lastest Dorset news with us – Congratulations on some stunning achievements Matt!  We would like to invite all members to write guest blogs on this site – After all, this site serves as an information hub for our member chefs and your news which makes it such a valuable resource- Thanks for the update Matt!

Matt Budden has brought you the latest from the Dorset Chef Members:

As a Founder Committee member of The Chefs’ Forum, Dorset, I  want to share some pics and news that members of The Chefs’ Forum may find inspirational and interesting!

The Highcliff Grill, Bournemouth, has won the Best Restaurant at the Taste of Dorset Awards 2013. The award was nominated by the fine food-loving public and finalised down to a shortlist of three: The Highcliff Grill, La Fosse in Cranborne (also a Chefs Forum Member) and The Olive Tree in Bridport.

The three finalists  were then judged by a panel of experts and the awards announced at the annual Taste of Dorset Awards at the Dorchester showground. The awards were hosted by Peter Gorton who heads-up the Devon Chefs’ Forum!

Last year’s winner of ‘Best Restaurant’, Brett Sutton of the Eastbury Hotel  scooped ‘Best Dorset Recipe’  at the awards this year: A fine haul of accolades for Chefs’ Forum Members who are truly passionate about what they do!

Cheesy link: As its National Cheese Week, I feel I must tell you that The Highcliff Grill has also received ‘Highly Recommended’in the British Cheese Awards 2013 which puts us in the top 20 places in the UK for cheese!  La Fosse were also in the ‘Top 20’ as well as Summer Lodge in Evershot  – This positions Dorset as the highest number of same-region entries in the ‘National Top 20’ !

Sunday 15th September sees the launch of the ‘Dorset on a Plate’ Charity Cookbook .  Chefs’ Forum Members Gary Kilminster (Bournemouth & Poole College), Michelin-starred Russell brown (Sienna), Colin Nash (The Three Tuns) and myself are all involved – More details will follow when the book is launched!

We’re all really excited about next week’s ‘Catch It, Cook It, Eat It’ Chefs’ Forum event at West Bay – Who will win our ‘Fastest Forum Filleter’ Competition and a fantastic tabletop induction hob courtesy of Control Induction? Look forward to seeing you all soon!

Matt x