“Yeah, he’s our ‘kick ass’ chef,” says David Duncan, the Registrar at the University of York.
Andrew Woods, (aka, kick ass chef) has been Head Chef at York for the past 11 years, and has spent them stirring his expertise into York cuisine.
“I’ve been trying to bring our food into the twentieth century,” says Woods. “I’ve gone from working in 5 star hotels, including the Ritz, to being the Head Chef here.” Adding a pinch of the ‘ethos of fine dining and quality of food’ to the pot of university cuisine, and changing the menu from frozen foodstuffs to fresh, has cooked Woods up a number of awards. On the menu: Winner of University Chef of the year, Gold Medal and the Hygiene Award at the Chef’s Challenge, Gold Medal in the Salon Culinaire de Londres competition, as well as a making a number of other shortlists.
No half-baked efforts, Wood has spread his talent evenly over Roger Kirk, Derwent, Wentworth, The Hub and the Kings Manor. “We listen to feedback,” and of course, “if students want chips, we’ll give them chips.”
It’s not a piece of cake though; “It’s been a challenge. People don’t realise we’re not subsidised.” Despite coming to York from the dizzy heights of one of London’s finest hotels, Woods doesn’t miss the glitz of The Ritz (sorry). “I still get that pleasure of doing food properly,” he told Vision, who are, for the record, huge fans of the coconut crunch.
And it seems we’re not the only ones: “The feedback I get is that food at York is very good really.”
“I’ve been trying to bring our food into the twentieth century,” says Woods
So that does that mean before this guy turned up we were privileged to Victorian culinary delights such as groaty pudding and game pie?