Chef's award for appliance of culinary science

A young chef in Leeds who helped pioneer "molecular gastronomy" has been praised for "making bigger waves earlier in his career than any major chef in recent memory".

A young chef in Leeds who helped pioneer "molecular gastronomy" has been praised for "making bigger waves earlier in his career than any major chef in recent memory".

Anthony's in Leeds was named the best new restaurant of the year at the Restaurant Remy Awards last night.

Special praise went to Anthony Flinn, its 24-year-old head chef, who has already been described as "the next big star of British cooking". The family-run restaurant of which he is a partner, picked up the Excellence Award at the ceremony, run in conjunction with Harden's restaurant guides.

Mr Flinn is a proponent of an emerging style of cooking pioneered by Heston Blumenthal, which combines kitchen traditions with scientific principles. Mr Blumenthal, the Michelin-starred chef at The Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire, is famed for dishes such as smoky bacon and egg ice-cream. Mr Flinn acquired his passion for molecular gastronomy at El Bulli, the renowned restaurant near Barcelona, where he worked for free for two seasons to gain experience. Among the more unusual dishes at Anthony's are roast duck with olive-oil chocolate bon bons and onion risotto with parmesan and espresso.

"We have only been open eight months but we are very busy. Saturdays are now booked up right through to January," said Mr Flinn, adding: "People seemed to only look at London in the past but the awards prove that great restaurants are opening across the UK."

Richard Harden, editor of the guides, said Mr Flinn was making bigger waves earlier in his career than Marco Pierre White and Gordon Ramsay had.

Jessica's, in Edgbaston, Birmingham, was among the runners-up in the awards, which recognised a host of new restaurants outside London, including The London Carriage Works in Liverpool and the Cedar Tree in Manchester.