Michelin-starred Mallory Court’s £135 Christmas dinner is a feast to remember...

SUPER-CHEF Andrew Scott will be charging £135 per head for his traditional Norfolk Bronze turkey dinner on Christmas Day.

By then his 60 guests will have just finished their champagne and canapés before taking their seats in the dining room of the Mallory Court Hotel, Leamington’s only Michelin-starred restaurant.

Indeed it’s the only Michelin-starred restaurant in Warwickshire and all the tables are already booked for a feast of not only turkey but starters that include foie gras and duck ‘Bon Bon,’ or perhaps curried parsnip and apple soup.

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And if you don’t fancy the turkey, how about a fillet of pan-friend turbot, roasted scallop, cucumber and vermouth sauce? Or perhaps a pavé of home-cured salmon, dressed crab and fennel?

Head chef Andrew, 28, has been planning the menu for weeks and will prepare as much as possible in the hours leading up to Christmas Day when he and a kitchen team of five will be on duty from 7.45am until 9.30pm - with a few breaks in between.

After that he’ll drive off to the Cotswolds to spend what remains of the day with his Portuguese girlfriend Ines.

“She understands because she’s in the hotel business herself,” smiles Andrew, who’s already made 1,000 mince pies.

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“Nobody wants to work at Christmas but the day is very much what you make it. I’ve bought small presents for the lads in the kitchen and we’ll all be cooking in party hats and playing festive music.”

In the Brasserie restaurant, next door to the main hotel building, there’s another set of cooks feeding nearly 90 diners in a less formal atmosphere.

During the expected lull around 5.30pm, cooks from both teams have agreed to sit down together. This time the choice will include beef Stroganoff, crab quiche, roast beef, couscous with peppers or, if guests prefer it, more turkey.

Andrew grew up in a household of good cooks and his own culinary skills first emerged during cub scout meetings when he won competitions.

But how do you cook for a chef used to only the best?

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“Well, I don’t spend my life eating fillet steak and wild sea bass,” says Andrew, who trained at the old North Oxfordshire College and worked at various top restaurants, including the five-rosette L’Enclume in the Lake District as he made his way up the kitchen rankings from junior commis chef to demi-chef de partie, demi-chef and sous chef before finally becoming head chef in June.

n TOP TIP to try at home: Practise the blanch and refresh method of cooking vegetables a little in advance then putting them in cold water before reheating and tossing in butter just before serving.