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EYCK ZIMMER, Executive Chef at Rocco Forte’s Lowry Hotel, was last night crowned Knorr National Chef of the Year 2006. The biennial competition, run by the Craft Guild of Chefs and sponsored by Knorr, is the most highly respected culinary challenge in the industry today; previous winners include Mark Sargeant, Bruce Sangster and Gordon Ramsay.
Eyck has received a large number of top honours. In 2000, he was awarded the prestigious Master of Culinary Arts (MCA), which has only ever been received by 13 chefs in the UK, and won the UK Kikkoman Masters in London. Other impressive awards include the Grand Prix de Cuisine at Le Trophee International de Cuisine et Patisserie in Paris; the Prix Pierre Taittinger Culinaire London; gold medal at the 6th Internationale Koochknust Austellung Vienna, as well as the Prix Honour ‘Best Exhibitor of the Show’ and two gold medals at Intergastra in Stuttgart.
German-born Eyck joined Rocco Forte’s Lowry Hotel in July 2005 as Executive Head Chef. His influences extend from classic British dishes to the more diverse flavours of fusion cuisine, basing his approach on the philosophy that cooking should be a “carefully balanced reflection of all things nature has to offer”.
Rocco Forte Hotels was established in 1996 to create a collection of luxury hotels in Europe. The hotels have individual styles, with each hotel reflecting its nationality and location. The collection is linked together under the Rocco Forte Hotels brand, which guarantees attention to detail, quality and service delivery.
The Rocco Forte Hotels collection includes:
- Hotel de Russie, Rome
- Hotel Savoy, Florence
- The Balmoral, Edinburgh
- The St David’s Hotel & Spa, Cardiff
- The Lowry Hotel, Manchester
- Hotel Astoria, St Petersburg
- Hotel Amigo, Brussels
- Le Richemond, Geneva (currently closed for refurbishment)
- Brown’s Hotel, London
- Château de Bagnols, en Beaujolais (managed on behalf of Lady Hamlyn)
- Villa Kennedy, Frankfurt |
