Chapter’s recently hosted journalist Tom Hawker whilst he undertook a tour of our local beauty spots. Mr Hawker completed the very popular Roseberry Topping Walk, which is less than 10 minutes away in the car, an area made famous by Captain Cook. Mr Hawker stayed at Chapters on the first leg of his tour and enjoyed the delightful culinary skills of Victoria Vassallo, the Head Chef, then set off in the morning to continue his walk – read the full article by viewing the Great British Escape PDF

Chapters Hotel and Restaurant, during September this year, has seen the return of one of their most popular couples. Victor and Victoria Vassallo originally worked at Chapters from March 2005 for four and -a-half years, before deciding to have a change and move to Harrogate.

The couple were originally persuaded to move from Malta by Steven Bell,the current owner of Chapters. After sampling the food and ambience of Victor’s Malta establishment, which had been voted one of the best restaurants in Malta by British Airways Flight magazine, Steven realised this Maltese restaurateur and his talented wife (who trained in Malta under two Michelin-star chefs) were the ideal team to revitalise Chapters.

It turned out to be an inspired choice because during the transformation Victor’s expertise and influence shone through. Why return? “We feel that Stokesley is our home, we have always liked the place since we first arrived,” said Victor. “We kept in touch with Chapters and Steven Bell and whenever we visited Stokesley we were constantly given a warm welcome by the people we knew, many asking us to return. Well, we have now.”

After dining in Harrogate, Steven met the couple and they all decided they would like to work together again. Said Steven: “We are really excited at the return of Victor and Victoria, as are our clients, who the couple always had a good affinity with.”

Victor, aged 50, becomes General Manager and Victoria, 46, Head Chef. They have been married for over 26 years and will be joining their daughter, Catya, who has worked at Chapters for over five years as the chef de partie along with her sous chef fiance, Ian – a real family affair.

“We are enjoying meeting many of our original clients, says Victoria, “but we also look forward to meeting and befriending many more new ones and introducing new and exciting menus.”

The final word goes to Victor: “We want the word out that they we are back – and with our return, returns the passion.”

Steven himself even gained a qualification in wine to help him better understand the challenges faced by his team and how best to over deliver versus customer expectations.

In January last year, Zak Talkington, Function Manager at Chapters Hotel became one of the first people in the world to pass the new Certificate in Spirits and on July 5th along with three other colleagues, Chris Lill, Ben Cotts and Adam Busuttil attended the first ever WSET Introduction to Wine Service Sommelier course to be run outside of the WSET headquarters in London at Chapters Hotel. Having run the courses with their own educators the WSET have entrusted Chapters, under the guidance of their wine consultant Karen Hardwick, of The Wine Academy to host the first course which is open to the public and wine trade professionals.

The Chapters team all attended the course along with Gary Riley from Babich Wines- all of which passed with flying colours.

In October the hotel will run an 8 week wine evening class leading to a qualification in wine which it will open to members of the public as well as some new members of the Chapters team. The course will start on October 11th with a food and wine matching supper and will continue for 8 consecutive Tuesdays with the exam on the final evening. The course will be taught by Karen Hardwick who was recently voted one of the best Wine Educators in the world.

The course fee of £290 includes supper on the first evening, all books, wine, exam fee and tuition. If you fancy gaining a wine qualification then please call the hotel for more details.

Chapters Hotel is fast gaining a reputation for as a destination for wine lovers from all over the area. Many events are sold out well in advance including winemaker dinners, Champagne tastings and exclusive small parcels of wine. To join our mailing list either call in at the Hotel or call 01642 711888

Fortunately the rain held off and the sun managed to make an appearance. Below are our favorite pictures from the day;

In this episode our Head Chef, Sean Wilkinson, show you how to make ‘Marbled White Chocolate with Hazelnut Praline Delice’. A really easy dessert for chocolate lovers.

Serves 6

Ingredients:

100ml   Double Cream
25ml     Milk
50g       Praline Paste (or Nutella)
50g       Chocolate
225g     White Chocolate
140ml   Double Cream Lightly Whipped
1          Gelatine Leaf (Soaked in Cold Water for 10 minutes)
6x       Moulds

Watch the Video:

Method:

Place 140ml double cream & 25ml Milk with the White Chocolate and and Melt over a low heat.
Once melted and praline paste and fold
Allow the mixture to cool down for 20 minutes by placing in the fridge
Add the soaked Gelatine and stir until dissolved
Gently fold in the whipped cream, but don’t pour it all in at once
Melt 50g of dark chocolate and feather through the mixture to create a marbled effect
Fill the moulds with the mixture
Place in the fridge and allow too set (Approx 2 Hours)
Enjoy.

This is the letter of thanks we received this morning from Graham Moore at the Helping Hands charity.

Chris,

I felt compelled to write a personal letter of gratitude to thank you on behalf of “Helping Hands North East”. Both the team & I would like to express our heart felt thanks for all your support in launching our charity, without you & the other sponsors the evening would not have been the resounding success that it was. Together we raised the grand total of £2600 & money is still coming in. These funds will certainly help us on our journey to develop a charity that supports patients who struggle to get the appropriate treatment through the NHS, those with little time left & the cares of those with difficulties. Together working in partnership with all of our supporters we can make a positive difference to peoples lives.

Please let me say again my sincere thanks for your support & a plea that you keep supporting us on our journey

Kind Regards
Graham

We will look to work with helping hands in the future, there is talk of holding a wine tasting @ Chapters so watch this space. We wish the people at helping hands the best of luck in their charitable journey.

Steven Bell, Owner of Chapters Hotel and Restaurant would like to thank both the team and our customers for the success. When we won it last year we thought it would be hard for the Judges not to find another restaurant to win the award .So to win it for a fourth year in a row was WOW. We work consistently hard at delivering Great Food and Customer service. “Everyone plays their part in the team to ensure we meet these expectations”.The Front of House, the Hotel, Reception Our creative Kitchen brigade and not forgetting the Chambermaid the team that the customer rarely sees.

Chris Neal General Manager and Head Chef Sean Wilkinson attended the awards On Chapters behalf. They came away extremely proud and full of passion.

I would like to say thank you to Flavours of Hambleton for holding the awards the sponsor Hambleton District Council and Grand Central and the judges for the task of visiting so many places.

Entering wards make you look at your business, what you do well and what you can improve in your business. That’s why we enter not for the Trophy but as a way of self-assessment.

Without the sponsors it would not be possible.

Many Thanks

Steven

Ps a fifth year that would be tough maybe we should sponsor the award