'Independent' chef wins award

Mark Hix has won the Cookery Journalist of the Year award for his food writing in The Independent at the Guild of Food Writers' Awards.

The chef, who owns three restaurants in London and one in Lyme Regis, has contibuted recipes to The Independent Magazine for eight years. "We're in the hands of an expert; his writing is joyful, and humble but aspirational," said the judges at the at the ceremony at Fishmongers' Hall in London. Hix, who specialises in regional and seasonal cooking, was also shortlisted for the Michael Smith Award for Work on British Food, won by Sybil Kapoor.