On Tuesday, October 6 a new National Chef of the Year will be crowned. We take a closer look at this year's finalists hoping to produce winning dishes at the final at The Restaurant Show, which will impress the judging panel - Mark Kempson.
Mark Kempson has been head chef at Kitchen W8 since 2009. He started in the industry at 14, collecting glasses at a local pub, before training for three years at college. He then went on to work in some of the top establishments in the UK including Pennyhill Park in Surrey, Vineyard at Stockcroft, and The Square which holds two stars in the Michelin Guide UK, where he worked with Phil Howard for three years.
Mark Kempson
Are you nervous about cooking live at The Restaurant Show?
Well to be honest with the heat I thought I would be nervous but after about five minutes it kind of disappears as you’re so focused on what you’re doing that there’s not really much time to worry about what’s happening around you. It’s just 100% focused on what you’re doing and there is such a time-pressure element to the competition. If you’re going to push yourself and obviously make it a challenge, there’s not really much time to worry about other things.
How do you let your personality come out in your cooking?
I very much enjoy cooking from the heart, believing in what I’m cooking and what’s basically a delicious plate of food to eat, and to deliver on that. It’s not overcomplicated or technical, what we do, it’s about respecting the ingredients and making something delicious, and I think that comes through in the food that we produce here.
Who were your biggest influences?
Mark Wilkinson, the guy that I worked for at my first job, is such a dedicated man to the trade. He gave it his whole life, and being quite green coming from college it opened me up to all these wonderful things, ingredients, and what you could do with them. I did that for a couple of years, then moving to the Vineyard and working for John Campbell, he was such a great guy to work for.
His organisation, how to run a team, motivation- I’ve never seen anybody else run a kitchen quite as well as him. Then I moved on to The Square and Phil Howard, which is where I feel I really learnt the heart and soul of cooking and what food was really about.
Mark Kempson
Phil was a great influence on me during my time there. Now I feel I’ve taken all of the best bits from everyone, I think my organisation and management skills are pretty good and my understanding of food is good as well. It’s been quite varied, different styles, different characters, which all had a great impact on where I am now.
What do you hope to achieve in your career?
Just running a successful business, cooking nice food, making sure the customers enjoy what I’m doing, and being the best I can really. That’s got to be the biggest goal, to steadily progress and grow, organically, a business into something great.
Finally, what would winning National Chef of the Year mean to you?
If I were to win NCOTY it would mean a huge amount to me, it’s obviously great within the industry and great for business, great for myself. I’ve wanted to further myself, push myself, turn myself away from my comfort zone and what I normally do, and go for something bigger and better, and it would be really good to cement that and be recognized for what I’ve done.
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