Chef Marc Wilkinson at his Fraiche restaurant _320
“This means I can offer diners ice cream lollipops instantly. I put everything into Fraiche, it’s a passion, it’s my life.”
Some of Marc’s greatest dishes he has come across by accident, like using rice as part of seasoning for fish.
It was while blowing wild rice at 200 degrees to make puffed rice that he experimented and crushed the rice, mixed with liquorice, sea-salt and orange-powder to make an interesting crust on the fish skin.
He said: “When I first came back to Wirral to be near my family I struggled to get ingredients, but now farmers markets and local farm produce is much better.
“I have found a fantastic butcher in New Ferry and vegetables from Claremont Farm and we’re moving in the right direction.”
He added: “It’s sad that we’re the only star in Merseyside, we have a great variety of food, a cosmopolitan mix with strong Chinese and Indian restaurants but it’s very expensive and difficult to sustain top end restaurant in the city.”
The Michelin Guide Great Britain & Ireland 2009 is published on Friday.
* Read our restaurant review of Fraiche here
* Don't miss Menu, for the best in food and drink in tomorrow's Liverpool Daily Post