Ruth Hansom named National Chef of the Year 2026
A scallop and girolle starter, Angus beef fillet and a chocolate-bramble mille feuille won the Bedale chef-owner the UK's top culinary title.
Ruth Hansom, chef-owner of her own restaurant in Bedale, North Yorkshire, has been named National Chef of the Year 2026 by the Craft Guild of Chefs.
She won the UK's longest-running culinary title after a live cook-off against nine other finalists at Le Cordon Bleu London on 6 October, with the result announced the following day. Ten chefs reached the final after an opening round built around this year's theme, "Our Sustainable Future."
Hansom's winning menu opened with Isle of Mull scallop, girolle, kohlrabi and cobnut. Her main course was Angus beef fillet with a braised ox-cheek cottage pie, beef fat, Kuri squash fondant, glazed veal sweetbread and tail-end tartare. She closed with a Guanaja dark chocolate, olive oil and foraged bramble mille feuille.
Ruth thoroughly deserves this title, and I'm excited to see what comes next for her.
Ruth Hansom's path to the title
The judging panel was chaired by Mark Birchall, chef patron of Moor Hall, with Cherish Finden heading the pastry judging. Judges scored flavour, creativity, technical ability, working practices, presentation and performance under pressure. "Ruth thoroughly deserves this title, and I'm excited to see what comes next for her," Birchall said.
Scott John-Hodgson of Solstice & House of Tides placed second, and Tom Heywood of Pignut & The Hare came third. Hansom previously won the Guild's Young National Chef of the Year title in 2017 and placed third in the senior competition the year before.
Prizes and what comes next
Her prize package includes an all-expenses trip to Australia and a culinary trip to France, plus an invitation from meal-kit service Dishpatch to launch a box built around her winning dishes. In a separate award on the night, Dan Conlon of Rafters in Sheffield won the Hallgarten & Novum Wines Wine Pairing Award.
Hansom has said she hopes her win encourages more women to enter the competition, which has run for more than 50 years and is judged blind on technique rather than reputation. The ten finalists were named at the start of last month, before the live final narrowed the field to a single winner.
