Darlington woman's London gastro pub wins this prestigious award

Star of Great British Menu, Ruth Hansom is head chef at The Princess of Shoreditch in London.

She was first made head chef of the pub in March 2020, but due to the pandemic it didn’t open until the following September.

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The pub has won Best Newcomer in the Top 50 Gastro Pubs Awards.

Ruth described the pub's achievement as a 'lovely surprise'

Ruth said: “It was obviously a lovely surprise to find out we’d won, it was very unexpected.”

Ruth said the downstairs bar offers more traditional food whereas the upstairs offers tasting menus.

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Decadent dining is on offer upstairs with a five course tasting menu priced at £58 and an eight course menu costing £75.

The downstairs dining area is more down to earth, serving dishes such as highland venison tartare with lovage, pickled mustard seed and confit yolk for £15.

The former Longfield Academy pupil came second in the national final of Springboard's FutureChef competition for young cooks under 16.

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The 26-year-old first moved to London to develop her culinary skills a decade ago.

Having come a long way since washing pots at The Ship Inn at Middlestone, near Spennymoor, the young chef doesn’t have plans on returning to the North East on a full-time basis soon.

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