Featured Chefs

Christopher Basten is executive chef at the 5-star London Marriott Hotel in the historic County Hall building overlooking Big Ben and the River Thames where he serves seasonal Modern British cuisine.

He has a bedrock of classical training stemming from an apprenticeship with John Burton-Race at the La Sorbonne restaurant in Oxford early in his career. He has also worked at the Ritz and the Dorchester hotels in London.

Christopher is a medal-winning member of the Craft Guild of Chefs culinary team and competed in the Culinary World Cup in Luxembourg in 2002 and 2006 and the Culinary Olympics in Erfurt in 2000, 2004 and 2008 taking silver medals in each event.

Currently Vice- Chairman of the Craft Guild of chefs he is committed to the development of young chefs to ensure the future of the UK culinary industry.





Paul Beckley Local Manchester lad Paul Beckley studied at Hopwood Hall College, Rochdale before heading south to train at The Park Lane Hotel and The Royal Garden Hotel London.

Coming back via The Marriott at Worsley, Paul joined The Midland Hotel Manchester in 2000. Working his way through the various kitchens, he now is Head Chef at the 2 AA Rosette French Restaurant within The Midland Hotel.

10 years on and Paul’s passion for “Good honest food” shines through on the menu of this historic restaurant, which incidentally was the first in Britain to gain a Michelin Star. Paul serves classically French food but with a modern twist.

His passion for cooking is evident and he is working towards gaining a prestigious 3rd AA Rosette for the restaurant which he believes is the best in the North West…..modern food with outstanding service.





Simon Rimmer (born 5 May 1963) is the resident chef on BBC2's Something for the Weekend., which first aired on Sunday 8 October 2006, and is also the face of cooking video website, Eat The Chef.

He is married with two children.

In 1990, Simon Rimmer spotted a gap in the market and used his inspiration to make his restaurant for vegans and vegetarians, Greens, in West Didsbury (Manchester. Two years later, The Guardian described Greens as one of the most exciting new restaurants in UK, and it has gone on to win several awards, including The Big Issue's Restaurant of the Year, and most recently North-west Restaurant of the Year. With a fresh, funky and fun approach to food, Simon believes that cooking is about exciting people. It should be sociable, straightforward and sparkling.

His television career began with Granada Breeze, hosting shows such as Livetime and Battle of the Chefs. However, he has also appeared regularly on programmes including This Morning, Granada Tonight, A Taste for Travel, Lunchtime Live and The Afternoon Show, Gloria’s Open House – Channel 5, Xchange for CBBC and a spot of co-presenting on UKTV's Great Food Live and BBC1's To Buy or Not to Buy. Simon presented This Little Farmer for BBC One and Making a Meal of It, also for BBC Two. Simon continues to co-present Something for the Weekend.

He was the mentor on the Channel 5 programme Breaking Into Tesco, a show where people will get a chance to have their recipe produced by Tesco.

His first book, The Accidental Vegetarian, was published in October 2004 to great acclaim. His second book, The Rebel Cook, was published in October 2006. His third book came out in spring 2008, it was co-written with Tim Lovejoy entitled Lazy Brunch, which is based on the feature in Something from the Weekend. In spring 2009, Mitchell Beazley published his fourth book, 'The Seasoned Vegetarian'.

Simon has a degree in fashion and textile design.

Simon opened his second restaurant Earle in Hale, Cheshire in October 2006, this time for meat-eaters. It has been a success, named top celebrity restaurant to eat at in the Observer Food Monthly.

Simon supports Liverpool Football Club, but also has an in depth knowledge of the history of Tranmere Rovers, which he chose as his specialist subject on the BBC quiz Mastermind in January.