{"id":783582,"date":"2026-09-26T20:20:36","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T20:20:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/783582\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T20:20:36","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T20:20:36","slug":"masterchef-winner-dan-merriman-opens-manchester-best-of-british-restaurant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/783582\/","title":{"rendered":"MasterChef winner Dan Merriman opens Manchester &#8216;Best of British&#8217; restaurant"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  Dan Merriman stole the nation&#8217;s hearts as he cooked his way to the MasterChef: The Professionals title in 2024 and has taken on the role of development chef at Little Beast, which has opened at Medlock Square, just beside the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk\/topics\/manchester-city-fc\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Etihad Stadium.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Built around the British agricultural calendar, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk\/tourism\/restaurants\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">restaurant<\/a> will change as ingredients come into season, championing the best of British seasonal produce.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Dan said: \u201cI started in kitchens at 15; I have worked in many different places across the country. I have now arrived at Medlock Square as a development chef.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cThe easiest way to describe it is rooted in Britain, inspired by seasons. It is all about great British produce, cooking really simply and letting the produce speak for itself.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cI always look at the product first and what is going to be best with that product at that time. What is going to highlight it, not mask it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Originating from Worcester, the 29-year-old took up the role of senior sous chef at the Black Bull Inn, in Old Langho, having worked at some of the region&#8217;s most glamorous establishments.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  These include Michelin-starred Plas Bodegroes, The AA 3-Rosette Cottage in the Wood, Fishmore Hall in Ludlow and most recently Northcote\u00a0in Langho.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  An emotional Dan thanked the judges and said the competition has been &#8220;life-changing&#8221;, after his win.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Dan added: \u201cEvery chef I have worked for and every kitchen I have been to, I take the things that are best and adapt them to myself and my cooking.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cYou can&#8217;t invent something in cooking; someone has already done it, and it is inspiration, and it is passed down.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Dishes currently include cured trout pastrami with whipped cr\u00e8me fra\u00eeche, chicken ballotine with mushroom pur\u00e9e and truffle sauce, and a 500g bone-in sirloin steak designed for sharing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dan Merriman stole the nation&#8217;s hearts as he cooked his way to the MasterChef: The Professionals title in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":783583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[96,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-783582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=783582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}