A NORTH-East paella chef who turned to Spanish cooking after training as a joiner is in the running for a national title.

After struggling to find work as a joiner, Callum Godfrey took a job as a kitchen porter at La Tasca, on Saddler Street, Durham City.

A few months later, he became a chef.

Now he has reached the national final of the tapas chain’s Paella Chef of the Year 2012.

Mr Godfrey, 23, from Esh Winning, County Durham, qualified for the event, to be held in Windsor on November 6, having won the regional heat, for chefs from the North-East and Scotland, on Tuesday, October 9.

The “second chef” said: “It was absolutely fantastic. I was a bit shocked at first.”

Looking forward to the final, he said: “Hopefully I’ll have a chance.”