YOUNG chef Nathan Williams is cooking up a storm after getting through to the final of a prestigious competition.

A Deptford pub named after the former job centre it now occupies has been accused of “insulting” the area and making unemployment “a joke”.

Lewisham People Before Profit have written to pub company Antic asking them to change the name of The Job Centre pub – which has been given a generally positive reception until now.

Their outraged letter says: “The current name sends an extremely insulting and profoundly negative message about the role of your establishment in the neighbourhood and your view of the majority of people who live there.

“Given the Antic Collective’s previous positive and progressive impact in other parts of south London, this is a message out of keeping with your profile and damaging to your reputation.”

Since losing down in 2010, the job centre has been used as a squat and gallery before finally being converted into a pub earlier this year.

But Lewisham People Before Profit claim that Antic are making light of a deprived area at a time when high-rise buildings are popping up around SE8, pricing long-standing residents out.

Upmarket US grocer Whole Foods Market saw its losses mount to £14.2m in the UK last year despite a surge in sales as it benefits from shoppers’ hunt for better quality food.

Sales rose by 26% to £81.5m as the company opened one new store and enjoyed an 8.6% rise in sales in established outlets in the year to 29 September 2013, according to accounts for Fresh & Wild, the UK parent company. But pre-tax losses widened by 12.6% to £14.2m as head office costs increased and it opened a new store in Cheltenham in 2012 and prepared to open outlets in Richmond and Fulham last year.

As it celebrates a decade of trading in the UK, the retailer famed for its organic and health foods has now racked up losses topping £100m in the UK since it acquired Fresh & Wild branches in 2004 and launched its first Whole Foods outlet in Kensington, west London, in 2007.

Jeff Turnas, UK regional president, said: “We are pleased with our healthy (established) store sales growth, which we believe highlights the increasing awareness of the Whole Foods Market brand and demand for the differentiated shopping experience we offer.  We expect our investments to deliver strong returns over the long term.”

Whole Foods appears to be benefiting from an increasingly divided market for groceries in the UK in which upmarket grocers including Marks & Spencer and Waitrose as well as discounters such as Aldi and Lidl are seeing strong growth while mid-market grocers, particularly Tesco and Morrisons are coming under pressure. Whole Foods’ ultimate parent company, which began as a single store in Austin, Texas, in 1978, has said it is committed to investing in the UK despite problems in its home market where sales growth is slowing in the face of increasing competition.

LUXURY tableware and kitchen equipment business Goodfellows has scored a coup for the UK by bringing over a line-up of internationally-renowned Spanish chefs to demonstrate the latest art of culinary magic to an audience of top professional chefs in July.

Chefs Angel Salvador, Martin Lippo and Jordi Cruz will use equipment from Goodfellows’ Chefonomy range produced by Spanish company 100% Chef; which focusses on techniques such as spherification, thermal circulators and cooking with liquid nitrogen and C02, to demonstrate modern cooking techniques and technology at the annual Skills for Chefs conference in Sheffield.

Set up in 2012 by North East-born food and hospitality entrepreneurs Valda and Paul Goodfellow, the company lists Close House, House of Tides, Lane 7, Seaham Hall, Jesmond Dene House and Raby Hunt restaurant among its North East clients, plus a long list of top restaurants, hotels and sporting venues across the UK.

The £2m turnover business employs 16 people at its Peterlee headquarters, and its luxury showroom on Baker Street in London is a regular haunt of celebrity and Michelin-starred chefs.

Goodfellows will also be showcasing its exclusive tableware which will be used in the demonstrations and workshops at the two-day conference, which brings together the cream of professional chefs and restaurateurs including household names such as Restaurant Wars’ Aidan Byrne and Great British Menu’s Paul Ainsworth, from across the UK to see new products and share skills and knowledge*.

“We were delighted to be invited to showcase our Chefonomy brand at the conference, and to be able to work with our partners MSK Specialist Ingredients to bring in such well-respected industry names to demonstrate all the new techniques that professional chefs are keen to incorporate into their cooking,” said managing director Valda Goodfellow.

“We describe Chefonomy as the art of future cooking, where science meets food. It taps into the growing market for molecular gastronomy and the tools and equipment that help professional chefs combine innovation with creativity, and set themselves apart from their competitors.

“Skills for Chefs attracts leading names in the culinary world and the event will be a chance for chefs to see some of our advanced technology in action, and hopefully inspire them to look at how they can continue to innovate in their own kitchens.”

The company’s client list now includes top hotel names such as The Ritz, The Dorchester and The Four Seasons, top golf resorts and celebrity and Michelin-starred chefs and restaurants.

The prestigious UK based wine publication has given seventeen London restaurants a top rating of three stars for their lists, ahead of other leading cities including Chicago, Hong Kong, Singapore and Rome. With only 220 three-star ratings awarded in total, London has the second most three-star wine lists of any city behind New York.

The World of Fine Wine judging panel contained some of the world’s leading wine critics and masters of wine including: Andrew Jefford, Gerard Basset MW MS, Elin McCoy and Tom Stevenson. They assessed well over 4,000 wine lists from restaurants around the world before coming up with the final 220 3 star lists, 400 two star lists and 600 one star lists at a judging session held at Lutyens Restaurant London.

The three star winners included restaurateur Gordon Ramsay for his eponymous London restaurant. On receiving the award, the delighted celebrity chef said: “It’s just fantastic news that the wine list at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay has been recognised in this way. The entire team there work tirelessly to deliver the ultimate experience in wine, food and service for all to enjoy. I’m very proud of all of them.”

Another of London’s three star winners was Dinner By Heston Blumenthal at the Mandarin Oriental. Executive Chef Ashley Palmer Watts commented: “I am so proud of the team and we all are extremely honoured by this wine award.

“It’s great to see the massive efforts made by the sommelier team recognised. They work very hard on sourcing wines and maintaining an incredible list, as well as selecting ideal pairings for our dishes.”

According to the World of Fine Wine Editor Neil Beckett, the awards mark an important day for the wine industry: “Our awards have been received extremely well by all the restaurants and restaurateurs. We hope that these will provide a refreshing new approach to the industry and will be seen as the industry benchmark for many years to come.”

Mark Hix is a familiar figure on the London art circuit. The chef and restaurateur is a keen art lover; works by Damien Hirst and Tracey Eminadorn his restaurants, and he’s even included a gallery in his latest venture, Tramshed.

Hix has now given a hand to the Delfina Foundation by hosting a fund-raising meal for the organization’s residency program. Seizing the opportunity offered by the foundation’s current multi-disciplinary investigation The Politics of Food, Hix has reinterpreted dishes designed by artists, including Shezad Dawwood’s “diasporically confused curries” and Jane Wilson’s take on Arab sweets.

These were served during an event held at Tramshed earlier this week, which was attended by the likes of philanthropists Princess Alia Al Senussi, Midge Palley, Lekha Poddar and Maria Sukkar.

Would you like some kitten with your coffee?

Feline company is exactly what one of London’s newest cafes is offering — and stressed-out city-dwellers are lapping it up.

“People do want to have pets and in tiny flats, you can’t,” said cafe owner Lauren Pears, who opened Lady Dinah’s Cat Emporium last month in an area east of the city’s financial district.

“There’s not many places in London you can just curl up with a book and chill out with a cat or two on your lap,” she said Friday. “I think that’s what our success is down to.”

Cat cafes first took off 10 years ago in Japanese cities, where many people live alone in cramped high-rise apartment blocks that don’t allow pets. Making feline friends became popular therapy for lonely or anxious workers.

“I can see how this would be good for someone lacking company,” said customer Sara Lewis, as she stroked a cat sitting on her lap. “It’s the best idea ever.”

The cozy English tea room, named after Alice’s cat in “Alice in Wonderland,” charges customers 5 pounds ($8.29) for two hours of kitty company. Coffee and afternoon tea — sandwiches, cakes and scones — are on the menu at an additional cost.

Lady Dinah’s opened March 1, and is fully booked until the end of June.

Pears raised more than $181,000 through a crowd-funding campaign to get the cafe up and running. Despite more than a year of planning permission delays and figuring out how to maintain health and safety standards, she says the hard work has been worth it.

The 11 resident kitties were donated by people leaving the country who could no longer look after them. Kitty welfare is paramount: the cats get regular breaks away from people, and staff have been trained by animal behaviourists to care for them.

Lisa Vann brought her eight-year old daughter, who has learning difficulties, to Lady Dinah’s for a playdate. “She’s delighted to be here,” she said.

The animal cafe craze shows no signs of slowing, with establishments now open in London, Vienna and Paris. A dog cafe, House of Hounds, is scheduled to open in London later this year.

And North American animal-lovers won’t be missing out for much longer. Two cat cafes are due to open in the San Francisco Bay area by the end of 2014, while cat cafes are also planned for Montreal and Toronto.

Iron Man star Jon Favreau has revealed his culinary skills were below par before he started filming Chef.

The 47-year-old, who wrote, directed and stars in the indie comedy, trained with chef Roy Choi and attended cooking school to prepare for his role as chef Carl Casper.

“I was a good bachelor cook when I was younger,” he said at the film’s British premiere at the Backyard Market in London’s Brick Lane.

“My Italian grandma made sure I knew how to cook enough items so I wouldn’t always have to buy food from a restaurant. But beyond that, I didn’t have a lot of skill.

“For this project, chef Roy Choi oversaw my training and the menu so I first went to culinary school, then I started working in a kitchen in Roy’s restaurant and worked my way to be a line cook.”

His Marvel co-star Mark Ruffalo and TV chef Andy Bates braved the rain to support Favreau at the event, which featured street food by London outfit Kerb.

The father-of-three claims he is now taking on Seth Rogen with meat cook-offs.

“Seth Rogen likes to tweet pictures of his home-made projects. They look pretty good,” he said.

“I’ve been trying to work on briskets of my own so I’ve swapped recipes and (we can) see how we stand up to one another.”

Favreau said he had made the most of his new-found skills and techniques.

“I like pasta, steak and cooking the foods that are in the movie. I learnt those things so that I knew what I was doing and now I like to do them in my life.”

The New York-born film-maker said his movie, which stars Sofia Vergara, Dustin Hoffman and his previous Iron Man co-stars Robert Downey Jr and Scarlett Johansson, is a love letter to the culinary world.

“If you love food … and chef culture, this movie tries to get those details right,” he said.

“And it also serves as a wonderful backdrop to a story about following your dreams and a father and son bonding on a road trip.”