The future stars of the hospitality sector were recognised earlier this week at an inaugural National Restaurant Awards Rising Stars lunch.
Sponsored by HG Walter, OpenTable and Square, the awards revealed the class of 2025, which comprised 24 chefs, sommeliers, restaurateurs, and front of house people from restaurants across the UK.
Chefs and restaurateurs were asked to nominate members of their team who they thought deserved special recognition, with a panel of experts creating a final shortlist of entries. Finalists attended a lunch at Café Francois in London’s Borough Market where they received their Rising Stars award.
Three special individual category awards were also handed out on the day. The overall winner in the Rising Star sommelier category, sponsored by Square, was Hannah Cripps, who oversees the wine offer at Canary Wharf restaurant Roe, while Rising Star in the chef category, sponsored by HG Walter, was Lulu Perry, from two Michelin-starred restaurant A.Wong. Freddie Clarke from 18 Restaurant at Rusacks St Andrews won the front of house award, sponsored by OpenTable.
As well as picking up a trophy, all shortlisted attendees were given a ticket to this year’s National Restaurant Awards, which are being held in London on 9 June.
Weronika Binek, The Terrace
Known affectionately as Ronnie, Weronika Binek joined Isle of Wight restaurant The Terrace as a part-time front of house team member two years ago while completing a psychology degree. She quickly progressed into roles including breakfast supervisor, shift supervisor, assistant manager, and finally restaurant manager in a short period of time thanks to her intuitiveness, the relationships she has built with the team and the owners, and her desire to learn.
Nicole Byrne, Shaun Rankin at Grantley Hall
Nicole Byrne has been at Grantley Hall for more than three years, starting as a chef de rang at Bar & Restaurant EightyEight, the estate’s pan-Asian restaurant. Her talent quickly became apparent and within two years she’d progressed to assistant manager, supporting the restaurant manager in leading a large team. In May 2023 she transferred to Shaun Rankin at Grantley Hall as junior assistant manager and soon began taking an active role in managing its wine list. Byrne has since gone onto achieve a WSET Level 2 in Wine and was subsequently promoted to sommelier for the restaurant. In September 2024, she was promoted to assistant manager alongside her role as sommelier and has recently completed the restaurant’s internal training programme, ‘Beyond Leadership’.
Aidan Channon, Fallow
At only 30 years old Aidan Channon has achieved a huge amount for his years. He has worked in all three of Fallow Restaurant’s restaurants – Fallow, Roe and FOWL – and has made a significant impact on each one. He started at Fallow as senior sous chef in April 2023 and went on to help with the opening of FOWL in October 2023 as acting head chef. He later went on to open Roe in Canary Wharf in April 2024.
Freddie Clarke, 18 Restaurant at Rusacks St Andrews
Freddie Clarke has worked at Rusacks St Andrews for three years having joined for summer work in 2022 while off from university, first as a causal team member and now working full-time as head waiter at 18 Restaurant. He is described by the owners as ‘a shining light within the property’ who is on first name terms with all the regular guests. Clarke recently become a mentee to a senior member of the company in order to further his education.
Hannah Cripps, Fallow
Hannah Cripps is the sommelier responsible for the wine function at Roe restaurant, a 350-cover restaurant in Canary Wharf with an excess of 250 bins of wine. Her knowledge of wine, enthusiasm for her role and ability to learn quickly has impressed and Cripps is tipped for big things.
Eden Glendinning, Wildflowers
Eden Glendinning joined Pimlico restaurant Wildflowers as a restaurant supervisor, but quickly showed she had the skills to step up into the assistant manager role. Her background spans everything from managing wine procurement to orchestrating events, giving her a comprehensive understanding of both the operational and service aspects of the business.
Elliot Hashtroudi, Camille
The opening of Camille in Borough Market marked Elliot Hashtroudi’s first experience as head chef following his residency at 107 Wine Shop & Bar and a tenure as a senior sous chef at St John. He has successfully led his team through the first months of opening with a 75% staff retention rate and focus on gender equality in his team with a 50/50 split within the kitchen. He and his team’s efforts were rewarded last year by making it into the National Restaurant Awards Top 100 list.
Abbie Hendren, Genuine Restaurants
Abbie Hendren started as a sous chef last year at one of Genuine Restaurants’ large brasseries before moving across to be head chef at its two Sam’s Kitchens in April last year. Since then, she has taken the food to the next level and launched a Smash & Grab Burger offer in Hammersmith and also its Dinner at SK in Chiswick.
Eleanor Henson, Spring
Eleanor Henson came to Spring fresh out of Ballymaloe Cookery School and has been with the Somerset House restaurant for nearly eight years. Henson has quietly worked her way through every section of the kitchen, stepping up to take on the role of head chef when Rose Ashby went on maternity leave and now leads a brigade of 24 chefs.
Augusta Hood, Cafe Deco
Augusta Hood started as a junior chef at Anna Tobias’ bar, restaurant, and wine shop in Bloomsbury in 2020 and quickly worked her way to becoming its head chef. Hood introduces a different slant to the restaurant’s menu offer, according to Tobias, which she says makes it a richer experience.
Rosie Maguire, Higher Ground
Rosie Maguire joined Manchester restaurant Higher Ground as chef de partie on the grill section. As part of learning the butchery programme within the restaurant, she has taken on an extra-curricular project called ‘The Dexter Project’, which involves studying and recording the Dexter breed of cows used in the restaurant. She then progressed to sous chef before taking on the full-time role of head chef within two years of joining.
Nayel Mahray, Brooks’s
Nayel Mahray joined the St James’s club for work experience last October and instantly impressed, later joining the team part-time. Described as one of the best hires the club has made, Mahray still works part-time around his college commitments and has been tipped as a chef to watch by his employer.
Clodagh Manning
Clodagh is described by Lyle’s chef-patron James Lowe a rising star within the London restaurant and global pastry scene, with an extraordinary passion for cooking and restaurants. Manning worked at Lyle’s for two years, becoming head of pastry chef, before leaving the restaurant at the end of last year. She has participated in numerous pop-ups and collaborated with chefs from various countries and most recently was involved in dessert pop-up Soft & Swirly at 107 Wine Shop & Bar.
Paddy Maynard and Harry Hope Morley, Oxmoor Farm
Paddy Maynard and Harry Hope Morley started Wild Feasts at Oxmoor Farm in 2022 with a handful of summer chef residencies under canvas, overlooking the surrounding countryside of Hope Morley’s family farm in Buckinghamshire. In 2023 they returned with a second season of Wild Feasts, before big changes in 2024 when the pair refurbished a barn on the farmland and extended the line-up to 10 chefs and continued the residencies until the end of the year. When residences aren’t being held, the space becomes The Barn restaurant, which serves baked goods, pizzas, small plates, and natural wines. The pair have grand plans to expand the offer at Oxmoor Farm, so watch this space.
Eleanor Mitchell, Heartwood Inns
Eleanor Mitchell joined Heartwood Inns as a supervisor in 2023 having previously worked at The White Brasserie Co, where she started as bar supervisor, and as a front of house supervisor at Crockers Tring restaurant. Now as assistant manager at Heartwood Inns she is described as having contributed a great approach towards her team to train them in their career and allow them to progress.
Megan Montibert, Skof
Megan Montibert worked at Simon Rogan’s flagship restaurant L’enclume for two and a half years before being picked by Tom Barnes to join Skof as the Manchester restaurant’s sous chef. Half French and half Irish, Megan’s love for hospitality is deeply rooted in her heritage and she fell in love with cooking at a young age. She also holds a degree in International Management and Modern Languages from the University of Bath.
Loic Noel, Mount St. Restaurant
Loic Noel has proven himself to be a hard worker and fast learner, moving through the ranks of barista to waiter to event staff to restaurant manager. His current ambition is to become a master sommelier under the guidance of mentor Agnieszka Swiecka, head of wine at Mount St. Restaurant and The Audley in Mayfair and a previous winner of the UK Sommelier of the Year competition.
Lulu Perry, A. Wong
At just 21 years of age Lulu Perry is already an important team member at two Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant A. Wong. Perry’s curiosity, desire to learn, and openness about what she doesn’t know showcases her commitment to growth and understanding, which is all the more impressive considering she had no experience with regional Chinese cooking before joining the restaurant. A Wong chef-patron Andrew Wong says Perry possesses a very good palate and excellent taste memory and has been training under one of the country’s best dim sum chefs, Mei Lan, the restaurant’s executive dim sum chef.
Alex Purdie, Café Britaly
Alex Purdie became a sous chef at Bocca di Lupo within a year of starting as a stagiare. In order to gain further experience in another cuisine he then moved to Bouchon Racine to work under Henry Harris, deciding to take a step back to chef de partie in order to focus on and refine his cooking. He later went on to open Café Britaly, which has subsequently closed.
Lokesh Shanmugam, Henri Restaurant at Henrietta Hotel
Lokesh Shanmugam, known as Loki, started with the Henrietta Hotel in 2022 as a waiter in the restaurant, which was then Italian concept Da Henrietta. His hard work and determination led him to be promoted to supervisor in early 2023. The restaurant is now currently a French/British concept called Henri, of which Shanmugam is its assistant restaurant manager. He is tipped for big things, including becoming the restaurant’s general manager one day.
Nicola Shaw, Tern by Johnny Stanford
Starting with chef Johnny Stanford at Alexander House hotel’s fine dining restaurant AG’s as a demi chef de partie, Nicola Shaw was pivotal in retaining the restaurant’s three AAA rosette rating for two years before moving with Stanford to open Tern by Johnny Stanford as sous chef and pastry chef in 2023. Since then, she has continued to excel and refine her pastry skills while managing a young kitchen team.
Connor Wilson, The Kirkstyle Inn and Sportsman’s Rest
In the two years that Connor Wilson has worked at The Kirkstyle Inn and Sportsman’s Rest he has helped take the food level to an industry recognised level. Wilson joined the business when it was in the start-up stage and has developed the food offer from a three course for £30 menu to a la carte and tasting options with dishes that stay true to its local pub setting but which also appeal to the wider market.
Ben Wood, Restaurant Hjem
Ben Wood has worked at Northumberland-based Restaurant Hjem for around 18 months and has excelled in his first fine dining role. Wood recently completed his WSET 2 with merit and has become involved in the restaurant’s wine service. More recently, he stepped up to take on a more managerial role when the assistant manager was on holiday and has taken several junior staff under his wing, proving himself to be a valued member of the restaurant’s team.