Yemi Adelekan is a food writer and blogger who was a semi-finalist in the 2022 series of BBC TV’s Masterchef competition.

Yemi writes for the Stray Ferret about her love of the area’s food and shares cooking tips. 

Chris Hobson is the most unassuming guy you could wish to meet, but behind this humble façade is a talented and award-winning chef. Chris is the head chef at The View restaurant at the Delmont Hotel in Scarborough.

He recently won the inaugural Deliciously Yorkshire Taste Awards Rising Star Trophy and was runner-up in the Best Use of Local Produce category, with a final nomination in the Best New Business category.

All of these come on the back of 25 years of hard graft in the food industry. He started at the age of 13, on a school work experience project at The Green Lizard in Scarborough – and was bitten by the bug. 

He worked his way up from pot-washer, becoming head chef at the Delmont Hotel in February 2025, and it didn't take him long to put his stamp on the food, winning an award a few months later. You might have seen him on Channel 4’s Yorkshire by the Sea.

He is passionate about seasonality, sustainability and Yorkshire, and loves to showcase the best of Yorkshire produce – and this is evident in his food. Chris being a true Yorkshireman, you can taste generosity in his food – both in terms of flavours and portion size.

Chris sources ingredients solely from Yorkshire suppliers, including Sykes House Farm just outside of Wetherby, Yorkshire Rapeseed, Yorkshire Pasta and Yorkshire Sea Salt, cooking with only seasonal ingredients, including seafood.

With classical training behind him, Chris cooks everything from scratch, and as he says, ‘if you want fish and chips, it will be the best you’ve had’. This is his goal and dream: creating dishes full of passion, heart and flavour, and most importantly with love from Yorkshire.

As a fellow lover of lamb roast – which Chris says he could eat every day if he got his way – I love his take on a Sunday roast, which he serves as a platter on a board (see main image).

Behind every successful man is a supportive partner and Chris’s partner and biggest cheerleader is his wife, Toni. She’s a big foodie and Chris still considers it a privilege to cook for her.

Chris and I were recently at the Living North Essence of Christmas event, and I got to see his generosity at close quarters, when he kindly shared his recipe for Seaweed Pesto using Everyday Seaweed Seasoning.

Seaweed Pesto

Ingredients

15g SeaGrown Everyday Seaweed Seasoning

1 large bunch of fresh basil (approx 50-60g, leaves and tender stalks)

100g pine nuts

100g Parmesan cheese – finely grated

150ml extra virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves, crushed or roughly chopped

Juice of half a lemon (approx. 1-2 tbsp)

Method

1. Prep ingredients – grate the parmesan cheese, squeeze the lemon, wash the basil and roughly chop it and chop the garlic cloves

2. Blitz the pine nuts in a food processor and pulse on high speed until they are finely chopped

3. Add the lemon juice and garlic and pulse again until just combined

4. Add the chopped basil, grated parmesan and olive oil into the food processor and blitz again

This pesto can be made in under five minutes. Toss some cooked pasta through it or serve as a condiment alongside other dishes.

For your Christmas dinner leftovers, add some roughly chopped sun-dried tomatoes to the pesto and make a turkey and ham pesto sandwich, rice salad or pasta. Toss in some dressed fresh baby tomatoes and spinach to make it more wholesome.

I will bring you more of Chris’s food in the new year, as it’s at the top of my list of Yorkshire restaurants to visit over the coming months.