Chef celebrates inclusion in top food critic's book

A chef who opened a dumpling restaurant after struggling to find work during the coronavirus pandemic says it is "pretty cool" to be featured in award-winning food critic Jay Rayner's latest book.

Little Dumpling King in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, had already been mentioned in a Guardian write-up by Rayner two years ago, but Rob McIntyre said inclusion in Nights Out In The Kitchen "makes a massive difference".

Rayner wrote that he enjoyed the restaurant's atmosphere and its "loose-limbed goofy approach to life".

McIntyre was delighted. "If Mr Rayner enjoys what we're doing, then we must be doing something right," he said.

Two recipes inspired by Little Dumpling King are in the book, which is published on Thursday.

McIntyre had been working as a chef in Chester when the pandemic broke out in 2020 and was searching for other ways to make a living.

He started a pop-up business selling steamed dumplings and said it "just went from there".

His restaurant has been in business for four years now, and he said the visit from Rayner, who hosts BBC Radio 4's The Kitchen Cabinet, was a surprise.

The critic booked his table under another name, and after the initial shock he said: "We just got our heads down and cracked on."

In Nights Out In The Kitchen, Rayner said the restaurant served: "Asian-inspired food, created by people who are diehard fans, rather than those trying to make off with the best bits of other people's culture for themselves."

He said McIntyre's haggis dumpling in crispy chilli oil was something Chinese chefs would approve of and described the atmosphere as "unapologetic".

McIntyre said the praise was "pretty big for me on a personal level".

And also admitted the recognition in the book "can't hurt business".

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