THE owner of a popular Northumberland restaurant is representing the North East in a television cooking show.
Cal Byerley is representing the North East on the BBC’s Great British Menu, competing for a place at the film-themed final banquet for the British film industry.
Mr Byerley is the chef and co-owner of Michelin-starred Restaurant Pine in Northumberland.
Although he narrowly missed out on winning the regional heats, he returned to the competition as presenter Andi Oliver’s wildcard.
Mr Byerley said: "This is my third year of competing, so the pressure was on.
"I’ve come second three times by the narrowest of margins, so to be brought back as a wildcard to cook the main course was overwhelming and pretty intense, to be honest."
He was invited back to cook his main course in the national finals, and his dish won him a place at the final banquet held at St George’s Hall in Liverpool.
His winning main course, titled The Full Monty, featured whole deboned guinea fowl stuffed with a roulade of guinea fowl leg and thigh farce, truffle, a truffle-stuffed morel mushroom centre, guinea fowl sausage, sweetcorn husk, caramel-glazed milk bun, mushrooms, sweetcorn purée, and guinea fowl sauce.
Mr Byerley said: "I’m chuffed to say my dish hit all the right notes with the judges.
"I’m the first chef from the region to secure the main course, and only the third chef to represent the North East at the banquet in 21 series of the show, the first since 2016.
"It’s great to shine a light on the whole North East region, which often gets overlooked.
"Earning a place at the banquet is a significant honour, especially getting to cook the main course, which is the one every chef secretly wants.
"I’m over the moon to have succeeded after lots of hard work, sleepless nights, and three years of competition."
Mr Byerley also thanked those who have supported him.
He said: "I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported me, those involved in the programme, my wife Sian, the team at Pine, and especially Ian Waller.
"From here, I want to see Pine continue to grow and develop, and to support even more up-and-coming talent, both in the kitchen and front-of-house, as we play our part in putting the Northeast even more on the UK's food map."
The full series is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
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