Northwest based Chef to appear in top cooking show for the first time. Nina Matsunaga, chef and co-owner of UK Top 50 Gastropub, The Black Bull, in Sedbergh, Cumbria, is set to appear on the 2024 season of Great British Menu.
She features as one of four chefs representing the northwest of England in the regional heats of The Great British Menu, which starts on 27th February and will see the chefs competing for a place in finals week.
36-year-old, Nina Matsunaga, from Cumbria, is competing in her first year of Great British Menu, and alongside the other northwest regional competitors will battle it out for a place in finals week.
The Northwest heats will broadcast on BBC Two, at 8pm, on 27th February, with three episodes being shown that week, part of a nine-week series, covering each regional heat before finals week, and the series finale culminating in the banquet.
This year’s theme is celebrating Britain’s success in the Olympics and Paralympics and will come to a head at an event hosted by the British Ambassador to France for Team GB wishing our athletes good luck as they prepare for Paris 2024.
Nina Matsunaga, chef and co-owner of The Black Bull, said: ‘’I’ve thought about taking part in GBM for quite a few years now, but I never thought I would find the courage to apply. This year I felt I should push myself beyond my comfort zone, and although a challenge it was an exceptional experience competing alongside some very talented chefs. It was an honour to represent the North West which has a rich culinary tapestry, with some of the greatest produce. This year’s theme was pretty interesting, threw up a few challenges and really made me think, so we’ll just have to see how things go and where I end up in the competition.’’
Watch Nina on Great British Menu on Tuesday 27th February at 8pm on BBC Two and iPlayer.
Nina Matsunaga
36-year-old Head Chef, Nina Matsunaga, is quietly tucked away in her kitchen at The Black Bull, Sedbergh, in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales, producing food that makes you sit up and take notice.
Born in Dusseldorf, Germany, to Japanese parents, her food is characterised by these two very distinct cultures. Aged 18, Nina, made the move to London to study Culinary Arts Management. By the age of 21 she was back in Germany, helping in a friend’s bakery and heading up a leading cookery school delivering courses in baking and game cooking.
She made a trip back to the UK, to Manchester, where she discovered a burgeoning street food scene, which fascinated her and where incidentally she met her partner, James Ratcliffe. The pair hit it off, Nina made the move to the UK and the rest is history.
Nina fully embraced Manchester’s street food scene, working as part of the team at Trove for a while before setting up street food and event catering business The Moocher with James, which rapidly took off. In 2014 the pair made the move to Sedbergh and opened their first eatery, The Three Hares, which quickly won a host of accolades and appeared in the Good Food Guide. These days you will find Nina behind the stoves in the kitchen at the Black Bull, crafting seasonal menus brim full of the freshest possible locally sourced ingredients. Since opening the doors of The Black Bull in 2018, Nina’s been turning heads with her food, sourcing and cooking local ingredients to produce inspired dishes that are full of international influences.
Alongside her obvious ability as a chef Nina takes great pride in knowing exactly where and how her ingredients are reared and produced. It’s one of the reasons she is passionate about regenerative farming and supporting local farmers and producers who rear animals in this way. Not only is farming in this way kinder to the animals and the planet, but also produces meat that is higher in essential nutrients and healthy fats, helping to diminish the myth that eating meat is bad for the environment.
Nina and her team operate a nose to tail kitchen, dealing with farmers directly, purchasing animals for the menus in person, before utilising the services of a local slaughterhouse, who then deliver direct animals to the kitchen, where the team then expertly butcher them in house, ensuring that every part is used, and nothing goes to waste.
This approach has earned Nina a deserved reputation, which has seen her feature in The Good Food Guide, The Good Pub Guide and Hardens Guide. It has also earned the Black Bull’s second AA rosette for culinary excellence, be recognised as the Best Pub in Cumbria, and the Best Pub in the North West by the National Pub & Bar Awards, Alongside that Nina has also been awarded the coveted title of Best Pub Chef presented by the Craft Guild of Chefs and more recently she has also achieved a place in the UK’s top 50 gastropub list for the last two consecutive years.
For further information about Nina Matsunaga & The Black Bull visit: www.theblackbullsedbergh.co.uk
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