Star chef to drop in at bistro to cook up boost for charity

He will be the chef for the sell-out evening at Vicars Caf Bistro, in Victoria Road, and will be plating up a five-course menu for double the usual price but with half of it going to charity.

Murchison, known by many as the chef representing Scotland on BBC television's Great British Menu, is travelling to Yorkshire after hearing about the community-style bistro from a mutual friend.

His love of using local ingredients wherever possible is shared by Vicars which buys in fruit, vegetables, meat and bread from Saltaire traders.

The chef said: "I am delighted to be joining the team at Vicars Cafe Bistro for such a good cause. Vicars is a real community bistro with a great history and I look forward to visiting and meeting the local people this weekend."

He is the only British chef outside London with two Michelin-starred restaurants and worked with Raymond Blanc before opening his restaurants La Becasse in Ludlow, Shropshire, and L'Ortolan outside

Reading.

Vicars is so named because it was bought, renovated and opened by two vicars: the Rev Andy Bowerman, who has since moved to a new parish in Dorset, and the Rev Jimmy Hinton, Vicar of West Bowling and Bankfoot.

Manager Ruth Fisher said: "It is no overstatement to say that Alan is one of the best chefs in the country and we are really grateful to him for his very kind offer to cook for us.

"We hope that on Saturday our customers, many of whom are regulars, will have a great evening and it's a wonderful way of raising money for the Red Fund which helps people in Zimbabwe affected by HIV."

Vicars is a not-for-profit organisation, a social enterprise, for the benefit of Saltaire and its visitors.

Many of the staff are volunteers, often from the local churches, who support the initiative in a variety of ways and add to the warm welcome.

One of them is 17-year-old Lewis Kelly, from Bowling, a budding young chef studying hospitality at Bradford College. He has been helping to prepare parts of the menu for many months in return for a few neat tricks from the chefs who prepare the meals.