4:00pm Friday 5th March 2010
By James Tourgout
CHEF Jack Davy poached a few tips from Marco Pierre White when he joined him for a cookery masterclass.
Jack, aged 20, who works at the Crown Inn in Winterborne Stickland, joined 14 other young cooks for the visit to the chef’s London restaurant Wheelers.
He said: “It was amazing to meet Marco.
“He’s been my hero since I started cooking. What he’s done is fantastic. He was the youngest chef to gain three Michelin stars and is the main guy in the cooking industry.”
Jack added: “He was exactly as I expected him to be.
“He had an aura about him and a very firm handshake.”
Jack, who is the chef at the Crown, was invited along through Paragon Skills for Industry, with whom he took his catering apprenticeship.
He made Eggs Benedict in a skills test. Marco also took Jack and apprentices in the group through the starters on his menu at Wheelers.
They spent about three hours with the colourful chef in the kitchens at the restaurant in St James’s Street in London.
Jack added: “It was so much better than I ever expected, a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“I was nervous about the experience, excited but nervous. But it was brilliant.”
The visit was part of a campaign to promote apprenticeships – which also includes an advertising campaign for apprenticeships starring the chef.
Mr Pierre White said: “It was a pleasure to meet the 15 apprentices.
“In my opinion, an apprenticeship is a passport to a future career. Apprenticeships are the future.”
Mr Pierre White has been spotted in Weymouth and Portland on several occasions in recent years.
He joined some local fishermen to film an episode for a series about British food and netted a lobster for the pot.
He also took his sons Luciano and Marco Junior for a fish and chip meal at the Seagull Café in Trinity Street during the trip.
The chef has also called in at Fish 'n’ Fritz, in Maiden Street in Weymouth on a past visit.
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