​Angela Hartnett Wins New Female Chef Of The Year Award

Chef Angela Hartnett has been named Female Chef of the Year in a new, inaugural award presented by Champagne Ayala and SquareMeal.

The chef-owner of Michelin-starred restaurant Murano - which she launched with Gordon Ramsay before buying him out in 2010 - is also behind two further Café Muranos, Merchant's Tavern in Shoreditch and the Hartnett, Holder & Co restaurant at the Lime Wood Hotel in Hampshire.

Hartnett has also featured on several BBC programmes including Great British Menu, and is a regular guest host on Saturday Kitchen.

Great British Menu/BBC

As well as that, Hartnett has been widely recognised for her fair working practices - and for generally bossing modern Italian cooking here in the UK.

Basically, she's badass.

Other shortlisted chefs include Sabor's Nieves Barragan Mohacho, former MasterChef winner and Wahaca founder Thomasina Miers, Margot Henderson of Rochelle Canteen and Clare Smyth - the chef patron of Core in west London, who was recently named best female chef at the World's 50 Best Restaurant awards in June.

Accepting the award, Hartnett said: "It's so good that there are so many female chefs now. The restaurant trade is changing for the better. If this encourages young girls coming into our industry, then it's a great thing to do."

SquareMeal editor Ben McCormack praised Hartnett for her 'sound business sense, sheer consistency and for being an icon and inspiration across her 24-year career', while also commending her decision to offer 'more social hours and flexible working conditions for her teams' - something that the restaurant industry isn't famed for.

McCormack also added that Hartnett 'proved that you can be a female chef in the male-dominated world of restaurant kitchens without having to become one of the boys'.

Huge congratulations, Angela!

Full list of shortlisted chefs:

Nieves Barragan Mohacho, Sabor

Ravinder Bhogal, Jikoni

Erchen Chang, Bao and Xu

Sam Clark, Moro and Morito

Helene Darroze, Helene Darroze at The Connaught

Shauna Froydenlund, Marcus

Monica Galetti, Mere

Lisa Goodwin-Allen, Northcote

Skye Gyngell, Spring

Anna Hansen, The Modern Pantry

Margot Henderson, Rochelle Canteen

Rachel Humphrey, Le Gavroche

Asma Khan, Darjeeling Express

Selin Kiazim, Oklava

Judy Joo, Jinjuu

Thomasina Miers, Wahaca

Chantelle Nicholson, Tredwells

Sarit Packer, Honey & Co, Honey & Smoke

Anne-Sophie Pic, La Dame de Pic

Helena Puolakka, Skylon

Clare Smyth, Core by Clare Smyth

Ruth Rogers, The River Café

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

@Jess_Hardiman