Wirral chef named in top 10 chefs along with Southport's Marcus Wareing

Dec 30 2009 by Liam Murphy, Liverpool Daily Post

A WIRRAL chef has been named as one of the top 10 expected to dominate British cooking in the next decade.

Marc Wilkinson, of Fraiche, in Oxton, already has a Michelin star under his belt and has now been highlighted as one of the country’s leading chefs.

Along with fellow Merseyside chef, Southport’s Marcus Wareing, who is based at the Berkeley Hotel, in London, Mr Wilkinson was among 10 top cooks highlighted by the Good Food Guide after being nominated by food lovers.

The top 10 includes three who learned their trade under one of the men who dominated the last decade – Gordon Ramsay.

The fiery Scottish chef, who now presents The F Word, scored a perfect 10 out of 10 in the guide in 2003, 2004 and 2005.

More recently Heston Blumenthal, who runs the Fat Duck at Bray, in Berkshire, achieved a perfect score in the 2009 and 2010 guide.

Guide editor Elizabeth Carter said: “There’s no doubt that Blumenthal and Ramsay have been the chefs of the decade. But what will the 2010s bring? We certainly have some exciting talent coming through the ranks.”

Marc Wilkinson said it was nice to be recognised, but insisted he would continue to devote himself to developing his Oxton restaurant, which is to shut in the first couple of weeks of January for an intensive workshop to develop menus for the next year.

He said: “We are so individual here. Some people do not get it – those people who go out just for sustenance and to fill up.

“Fraiche is not about that. We’re about new flavour combinations and doing different things.”

And he also insisted – despite some offers – he wanted to remain in the kitchen.