Chef-owner of Perthshire’s Killiecrankie House, Tom Tsappis, has been presented with the Restaurant Chef Award at this year’s 30th-anniversary celebration of the Craft Guild of Chefs Awards.
The awards, held earlier this week at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House in London, saw over 800 of the hospitality industry’s leading figures attend alongside the Craft Guild of Chefs’ Royal Patron HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh.
The other shortlisted finalists in the Restaurant Chef category were George Blogg, executive head chef of Gravetye Manor Hotel & Restaurant, and Daniel Rogan, chef-owner of AO by Daniel Rogan.
The Craft Guild of Chefs Awards are described as ‘the chefs’ Oscars’, recognising exceptional talent across the whole of the hospitality industry, from apprentice and young chefs just starting out, to chefs who are established in their careers in hospitality, pubs, and restaurants.
A total of 19 awards were presented on the night, with the Special Award presented to Asma Khan, owner of the Darjeeling Express, London. Previous winners of this accolade include Simon Rogan, Michel and Albert Roux, Angela Hartnett, Marco Pierre White, and Raymond Blanc.
Other notable awards went to Michael Kwan, executive head pastry chef at The Dorchester, who won the Pastry Chef Award, and the New Restaurant of the Year Award went to Miller Prada, for Humo London.
Tsappis commented: ‘’Winning was totally unexpected but I’m really over the moon. To be honest it hasn’t fully sunk in yet.
“However, it does follow rather nicely from my wife Matilda who leads our front-of-house team and was recently recognised in the UK Top 100 Sommeliers list, at number 48.
“I’m sure that the full enormity of what we’ve achieved between us will hit at some point. One thing I do know is that neither of us could have achieved what we have without the full support of the entire team at Killiecrankie House, so we want to say a huge thank you to them for that.’’
