Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2008/January 2009 | Page 106

life

FOOD & DRINK

Mark Young
Restaurant Chef
of the Year

Left to right: Phil Legge and Mary O' Brien from Brickfields presenting Mark Young
from The St Helens.

Ever since Mark Young took possession of
The St Helens he was determined it should
be a two AA starred restaurant. He’s been
striving to gain the second star since the St
Helens attained its first, last year. He’s sure
that it is because he’s upped his game from
what was already a pretty strong position
that he gained the AA Island Life Restaurant
Chef of the Year Award.
“We treat every customer as if they’re an
AA inspector,” he says. “We’ve sharpened
our presentation, and I put that down to my
new sous chef, Jason West.” Jason came
from the Royal Hotel, and Mark says Jason’s
standard of presentation, and the quality
and technicality of his cooking “polished the
edges for us.”
However polished the St Helens is, it is
far from stuffy. Mark may be Chef of the
Year but fostering a relaxed atmosphere
has always been an integral part of
what he wanted to achieve. “We wanted
the restaurant to be accessible both

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economically and in terms of atmosphere
and ambience. It’s a misconception that to
have two rosettes you have to be top dollar.
We’re not looking to gain a Michelin star,”
he adds, “which would mean charging up to
£60 for a three-course dinner.” At present
during week nights the St Helens is offering
a three-course meal for £22.50 and two
courses for £19.50. Saturday night is just a
la carte, but even then a meal per head costs
less than £35 including wine. As Mark says,
“our food is accessible, not ponsy, and you
don’t leave hungry.”
An AA rosette is an indication of the
quality of the ingredients sourced, quality
of the cooking, and of the presentation.
Having two is normally the point at which a
restaurant puts its prices up, but Mark is not
out to make it harder for people to go out to
dinner in the current economic climate. “OK
I’m not going to get the person who will pay
no more than £3.50 for a carvery, but that
goes against my principles of buying proper

quality meat.”
While Mark was achieving success as
Chef of the Year, his son Jack was doing
something similar. Through the Isle of
Wight College he competed in the Rotary
international young chef of the year and
won his heat. Aged just 13 (his birthday is
in November) he competed against 17 year
olds to produce a two-course meal. “Getting
the Island Life Chef of the Year award was
great, and getting my second rosette is
fantastic. But the pride I felt when they
called Jack’s name out was unsurpassable,”
says Mark.
“I don’t expect Jack will be a chef. But
if other children can look at what he’s
achieved and think they’d like to get cooking
too, then that’s great,” says Mark. “It’s really
so important children are introduced to
cooking, and to good food.”

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