Danny Young of the Torridon named National Chef of the Year
A lobster and yuzu starter, dry-aged beef with glazed tongue and a Valrhona tart won the Highland chef the UK's top title at the Hippodrome Casino.
Danny Young, head chef at the Torridon in the Scottish Highlands, is National Chef of the Year 2026. He won the UK's longest-running culinary title after a cook-off against nine other finalists at the University of West London on 7 October, with the result announced that evening at the Hippodrome Casino in Leicester Square.
Young's winning menu opened with native lobster, yuzu beurre blanc and N25 caviar. The main course was dry-aged beef fillet with glazed ox tongue, beef-fat onion, potato and truffle. He closed with a Valrhona fruit and nut tart, mascarpone and Pedro Ximénez sherry.
Katie Morgan of Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons took second place and also won a returning wine-pairing challenge, matching a Côte-Rôtie with Australian beef and a braised massaman cheek. Ruth Hansom-Rigby of her own restaurant in Bedale, North Yorkshire, finished third.
His menu absolutely nailed the brief, from the first spoon of lobster to the last of the tart.
A second national title
The judging panel was chaired by two-Michelin-starred chef Matt Abé, alongside Mark Birchall, Lisa Goodwin-Allen, Atul Kochhar and Phil Howard. Abé called the standard "phenomenal" and said Young's menu "absolutely nailed the brief."
Young already holds the Young National Chef of the Year title, won in 2018, and a 2021 Acorn Award for chefs under 30. Competition director David Mulcahy described the event as "a launchpad for culinary talent" and congratulated him on adding the senior title to his record.
The win follows ten finalists being named at the start of the month, among them Morgan and Hansom-Rigby, who both went on to place. The Craft Guild of Chefs runs a separate Graduate Award for cooks earlier in their careers.
Prizes worth £15,000
Young's prize package is worth more than £15,000, including trips to Australia and around the UK and the chance to launch his own meal kit through Dishpatch. All three finalists will get a dinner for two at Abé's new Mayfair restaurant and time working in his kitchen.
The Torridon is a country-house hotel on the shore of Loch Torridon in Wester Ross, built around a 58-acre estate at the foot of the Beinn Alligin munro. Young has led its kitchen through a period of menus built on Highland game, langoustines and foraged produce.
Next year's final returns to the same format, with ten regional heats feeding into a single cook-off judged blind on technique rather than reputation.
