I’ve said it before, and no doubt I’ll say it again: I really like BBC’s Great British Menu. A large part of that is because it showcases some great chefs that aren’t celebrities and you probably won’t have heard of heard of. And this week’s South West heat included Henry Herbert, a 22 year old, non-trained chef from Bristol (who currently works in Clerkenwell). His dishes have been a little “adventurous” (and by that I mean “unique” and “risky”), but in amongst them are some really interesting ideas, possibly given that he doesn’t have the pre-conceptions that classically trained chefs do.

For example, one of his dishes included pureed garlic mixed with gelatine, chilled, cut in to cubes, then breaded and fried – the result being little breaded cubes that just melt in to puree when you cut in to them. And I suspect that technique could work with a lot of different ingredients – think of horseradish cubes that just melt as you cut in to them to make the sauce. I’m going to have to try this out myself!

I think he’s going to be a trend-setter in the future. In fact I’m willing to put money on him being pretty high-up in his game in 10 years time – we will have to wait and see…