Britain's youngest Michelin-starred chef heads to Ripon

Tommy Banks, owner of The Black Swan Oldstead and youngest Michelin-starred chef in Britain, will host an evening of fine dining with Matthew Lockwood at Lockwoods restaurant, North Street, on Thursday, February 25.

The evening’s specially designed five-course tasting menu will feature a range of dishes created by Tommy.

He will combine age-old methods and modern, innovative techniques, to create a diverse seasonal menu with the majority of ingredients sourced from the extensive kitchen garden at The Black Swan.

Matthew said: “This is an exciting collaboration and as ever, Tommy’s menu looks both innovative and interesting. It will definitely be a culinary evening not to be missed.”

The menu will be unique to the event and include ingredients which have been harvested and preserved in various interesting ways.

The use of Oldstead-grown produce, including unusual and rare vegetables, together with local meats, will emphasise the ethos at The Black Swan of minimising food miles from field to plate.

The experience will be further enhanced by an accompanying drinks selection with specially selected wines and a range of soft drinks and cocktails developed at The Black Swan using ingredients from the kitchen garden.

Tommy is not formally trained. He started working in the kitchen at Oldstead when he was 18 and having honed his skills and knowledge finally took up the position of Head Chef at the age of 24.

Having recently been awarded Four Rosettes in January’s update of The AA Restaurant Guide, The Black Swan is now the only restaurant in Yorkshire and the North East to hold the highly regarded combination of Four Rosettes and a Michelin Star.

Tommy said: “The team at The Black Swan have been working on ideas for the guest night menu since early December.

“It’s a great chance to showcase what we do and an exiting development of our long-standing relationship with Lockwoods.”

It has been a decade since Lockwoods first opened its doors to the public in December 2005. Last year the restaurant was awarded North East Restaurant of the Year by the Good Food Guide in the summer and then took home the Best Use of Local Produce on a Menu accolade at the Deliciouslyorkshire Taste Awards in October for its partnership with the Ripon Workhouse Museum Garden which supplies a host of unusual heritage fruit, vegetables and herbs during the summer.