A CHEF from Darlington representing the North-East in a national TV cooking contest gained great praise from judges and her peers this week.

Ruth Hansom, who is originally from Darlington but moved to London eight years ago to train as a chef, was one of four North-East chefs competing as part of the BBC Two programme Great British Menu.

Following a top performance in the regional competition, the 24-year-old has been taking part in finals week, finishing second in the fish dish section in the show broadcast on Tuesday night.

It means she just missed out on the chance to cook at a banquet, which will have four courses, each inspired by children’s literature.

Her fish dish was inspired by classic children’s novel The Railway Children and featured pickled sardine, rhubarb “marmalade”, fennel, radish and parkin – all served up on a model train.

She said: “It was really good fun. After the first couple of days in the regionals, where the first person gets knocked out, I was happy. I went in thinking if I get past that I’ll be happy.

“It was totally unexpected to get to the final. Coming second by one point was disappointing because I’m quite a competitive person but to come second to someone like Niall (Keating, executive chef of two Michelin-starred Whatley Manor in the Cotswolds) makes it okay.”

Judges praised her “well thought out dish” and described it as a “thing of great beauty” with “wonderfully childish” presentation.

And despite winning over guest judge Malorie Blackman, who was converted into a fan of rhubarb, the dish came second.

Miss Hansom, a former pupil of Longfield Academy, was the head chef at Pomona’s in London before the start of lockdown, but the restaurant has now announced it will not be reopening again.

She added: “Unfortunately it’s not going to opening again but I’m hoping to be somewhere else with the same team.

“Lockdown has been a bit strange. My partner is a development chef and he’s been a lot busier than me because they’re trying to come up with new ideas. and test recipes.

“I’ve just been making too much food for everyone - I’ve been doing a lot of things I wouldn’t usually do. Because I’ve got so much more time I can do things like make orzo from scratch.

“I’ve been cooking more Japanese and Chinese food which I love. It’s been really nice to try things out. I think everyone and his dog has made a sourdough by now.”

Miss Hansom decided she wanted to become a chef after triumphing in the final of Springboard’s FutureChef competition at Westminster College while a pupil at Springfield Academy.

She moved to London eight years ago to go to train there and pursue a career in the hospitality industry.

She served an apprenticeship at the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts with luxury hotel The Ritz, where she was working when she became the first female winner of the Young National Chef of the Year competition.

She said: “I’ve done hundreds of competitions. I’ve done pretty much every one out there.

“I’m competitive, but I find it really good for improving my skill set.

“For everyone you get a new brief. In a restaurant you do the same thing over and over again and menus only change every couple of months.

“I find it a real challenge and its a chance to push yourself.”

The young chef has not ruled out returning to the area in the future.

She added: “I wouldn’t say I would never come back to the North-East but it’s really difficult to create yourself somewhere else.

“It does happen, and there are some fantastic restaurants. In London there are people who eat at Michelin star restaurants every night of the week. In the North-East people go, but it’s often once in a lifetime event."