Ben Cooks up a Great Opportunity

After attending a Cookery Theatre, Ben Cooke has been offered placements at two prestigious restaurants.

Doncaster College student Ben Cooke has been offered a work placement at two prestigious restaurants after attending the Cookery Theatre at the Festive Food and Gift Fair which was held at Doncaster Racecourse in November last year.

Seventeen year old Ben, from Rossington in Doncaster, has been given the opportunity to work with chefs at the Ruddington Park and Swinton Park restaurants, as well as the chance to train with the owner of the Indian restaurant Prashad, which won Gordon Ramsey’s Best Indian Restaurant in 2010.

Ben, along with several other College students, got up on stage and helped top chefs prepare different dishes in front of an on looking audience. Once the dishes were complete, they were taken around the crowd by the students for them to try what had prepared.

Ben is currently studying a VRQ Level 2 in Food and Beverage Service at Doncaster College’s Waterfront Campus.

Last year he won Student of the Year and came second in the Junior Curry Chef of the Year. He also spent a few weeks working in the Ritz Hotel's kitchens.

He said, "The Ritz was definitely a good experience for kitchen production because it helps with the pressure of getting things out on time. Being there and seeing what they do, it gives you a whole new perspective on how they do it in a bigger industry.

"I got a lot out of the racecourse event, I’ve since been offered the work placements as well as the cookery school training and we got a lot of good publicity for the Waterfront Restaurant in the College, which was a plus."

Updated: 06/01/2012