Dark Horse wine award

WINNER: Luke French of Jöro, Sheffield

Luke French calls his food a “Scandi-Jap mash-up”, which pretty much sums it up, although it is, of course, a lot more refined than that throwaway description might suggest. Formed from a cluster of shipping containers on the side of a busy road on Kelham Island – the old industrial part of Sheffield where Victorian warehouses and steelworks are being transformed into chic apartments, restaurants and bars – Jöro is quietly gaining a name for itself outside Sheffield. Local produce combined with Scandi/Japanese techniques are at the fore, with lots of Yorkshire produce named on the menu. The food here is all about extracting as much flavour as possible out of what are often pretty humble raw materials.

Our judge pulled up a stool at the chef’s table to enjoy a parade of genuinely exciting, deeply flavoured dishes. Highlights included new-season peas cooked in lamb fat and dotted with a ‘pesto’ of mint and local Yorkshire Fettle (a feta-style cheese), pea shoots and mint ‘jam’; and tender, juicy Moss Valley pork neck barbecued and glazed with a rich, sticky homemade yakiniku sauce (made from sake, mirin, sugar, rice vinegar, soy sauce, miso and katsuobushi); and Scottish king scallops brined and cured in elderflower vinegar, sliced and served with grated horseradish, samphire, pickled elderflowers and grated smoked scallop roe. The quality and inventiveness continued through to a dessert of frozen parfait of brown butter and muscovado with plum sake caramel, spiced cake and apple.

Head judge Laura Rowe says: “This was a no-brainer for our judges – Luke’s food is special and hard to define. There’s no one else producing food quite like this in the country, and we’re sure it won’t be long before Michelin comes knocking.”

To find out more about the winners, and those shortlisted, and for exclusive O Chef Awards content – including recipes, interviews, podcasts and reviews – go to Omagazine.com/ chef-awards.