SUPER chef Chris Hobin may not be the best in Britain, yet, but he's not far off.

The man who, as Bury Council's head chef, has the task of preparing gourmet cooking for up to 500 guests at each sitting in the borough's civic venues, has narrowly missed out on a top award.

Against opposition from across the country, Chris made it into the final six "cook-off" in this year's Civic Catering Chef of the Year competition, organised by British Meat, The Meat and Livestock Commission.

And Chris made his way into the final thanks to one of the recipes he uses in his local catering.

The judges were so impressed by the medallions of Welsh lamb with a rosemary and mint glaze, his honey-glazed fondant potatoes and filo parcel of winter vegetables with yoghurt and mint followed by a dessert of strawberries Romanov style, that they invited him down to their Milton Keynes headquarters to cook it. Chris, who became the borough chef six years ago, said: "Obviously I was pleased to have got into the final six.

"Having said that, once I got down there I was really keen to win and I was disappointed not to."

He added: "Years ago I used to enter competitions fairly regularly but it is not something I have done in recent times.

"Having said that, now I've been involved with this competition it has whet my appetite and given me a real taste for it once again. No doubt I will be putting my name forward for others in the future."

During the final "cook-off" Chris was given just 100 minutes to re-create his menu.

He continued: "Cooking up a single portion seemed a little strange, particularly bearing in mind the figures that we are normally involved with.

"We can have 500 people for a sitting at any one time and in busy months, such as December, we prepare and serve around 10,000 meals.

"The logistics of that kind of catering are completely different to the norm, I suppose it is just a case of thinking big all the time."

The local authority's best value and competitiveness chairman, Councillor Julie Higson, commented: "Not only do Chris and his team serve up excellent value meals but, as his success has shown, they are high quality as well.

"To have made it to the final of this prestigious competition was quite something and I'm sure that local users of our civic venues will be pleased to know that not only do we have extremely high standards of catering but they are amongst the best in Britain."

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