Chef & Brewer hails its best

Paul O'Keeffe, head chef at the Boot & Slipper, Amersham, Buckinghamshire, has been named Chef of the Year in a pub company competition. He beat 80 other chefs to win the Chef & Brewer Chef of the Year competition 2004. Five chefs battled it out for the title in the final at Northampton last week. O'Keeffe's menu was a starter of Aylesbury duck with red cabbage purée, wild mushroom duxelles and red pepper syrup, a maincourse of pan-fried cod with seared scallops and artichoke nage, and a dessert of mille-feuille with macerated strawberries and toasted almonds. The panel of judges included celebrity chef and restaurateur Tony Tobin. Jamie's reject wins award A Hackney chef rejected by Jamie Oliver's Fifteen won the award for top trainee when the first apprentices from Prue Leith's Hoxton Apprentice qualified. Leon Seraphin, 24, left the training restaurant for the long-term unemployed in Hoxton Square, Shoreditch, to become a commis chef at prestigious White's Club after turning down a job offer from Compass group. "I have really loved it here ­ and now I'm going to be a chef. If you haven't got the background, there's no way you could survive without a place like this," said Seraphin at the graduation last week. The next intake of apprentices starts shortly. The venture welcomes help from pubs which can offer work experience. For more information call 020 7749 2828. Yates revives beef sandwich Yates Group is reviving a dish that first appeared on its menus 80 years ago. The Bosley Beef sandwich, which derives its name from a herd of cattle the founding Yates family owned in the 1920s, will reappear as the Yates's Ultimate Bosley Beef Sandwich. Yates Group marketing director Ian Webb said: "Granted, this time the beef we use won't come from our own herd, but revivingit is a nice way to mark this, our 120th anniversary year." Served with chilli-flavoured nachos and salsa, the sandwich is available in all Yates's 130 bars, priced from £4.99.