Star rating for ace cook Kenny (From Tewkesbury Admag)

Star rating for ace cook Kenny

12:52pm Thursday 14th February 2008 in News

THE first chef to be awarded a Michelin Star in the Isles of Scilly is a Geordie who has made Evesham his home.

This unlikely combination of locations is all in a season's work for chef Kenny Atkinson who was awarded the prestigious Michelin Star rating at St Martin's Hotel, on an island measuring no more than two miles long and one mile wide.

"A Michelin Star is the most prestigious rating a chef can achieve and Gordon Ramsey has three," said Kenny.

"It basically guarantees that someone will get a great meal, and because of our location here in the Isles of Scilly, it makes it a little bit more special."

Kenny's season goes from March through to October on St Martin's, one of a cluster of islands known as the Isles of Scilly situated off the coast of Penzance, in Cornwall.

"I'm originally from Newcastle, but at the end of the season it's nice to be able to go home to Evesham. I moved there when I was 21 and met my wife Abbie. I was married in Harvington Church and have a son, Aaron, age two.

"My family was over the moon when I got my Michelin Star. It is something I have been working towards for a long time and they have supported me during this time.

"I don't really have a speciality dish" he added. "We just have lovely, local produce here on the island and I like to make the best of what we get."