John Williams, Mark Birchall, and Andrew Wong honoured at award ceremonies

Williams, executive chef at The Ritz in London, and Mark Birchall, chef-patron at Moor Hall in Lancashire, were honoured at this year’s AA Hospitality Awards, with Williams receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award and Birchall named the Chefs' Chef of the Year.

Other awards at event, which was held at Grosvenor House, include Norfolk restaurant Socius being named Restaurant of the Year, and Chez Bruce being named London Restaurant of the Year. Newport-based Gem 42 was named the best restaurant in Wales while The Cellar in Anstruther, Fife, took home the title of best restaurant in Scotland.

In a separate award ceremony, Andrew Wong was presented with The Golden Chef Award at the Golden Chopsticks Awards, which recognises East and South East Asian cuisine across the UK.

Writing on Instagram, Wong said: “On this day exactly 18 years ago, my father passed away. If he was still alive, Nathalie and I would probably never have been crazy enough to open A Wong. But the industry and China Town London community have been so kind to us for the past 10 years and given us so many wonderful times. This award really is for all our forefathers who went through the toughest of times to give us today, a today where we can even have the Golden Chopsticks Awards.”

At the event, which was founded in 2017 by TV presenter Gok Wan, Lucy Mitchell, managing director of oriental food company SeeWoo UK, and PR specialist Sarah Lewis, Hakkasan was given the Fine Dining Award, and Park Chinois was presented with the Dining Experience Award.