Adam Handling appointed MBE in New Years Honours List
Chef Handling is the owner of the Adam Handling Restaurant Group, which includes his Michelin-starred flagship restaurant Frog by Adam Handling in London
Chef Adam Handling has been appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to hospitality and international trade in the New Year Honours List 2024.
Born in Scotland, Handling’s career began at Gleneagles at the age of 16, where he was the first ever apprentice chef, before going on to become Fairmont’s youngest ever head chef.
Almost two decades on, he is now the chef owner of the Adam Handling Restaurant Group, which includes his Michelin-starred flagship restaurant Frog by Adam Handling in London; Ugly Butterfly in Cornwall; his pub, restaurant, and rooms, The Loch and the Tyne, in Old Windsor; and Eve Bar in London.
Throughout his career, he has received a number of awards, including ‘Scottish Chef of the Year’, British Culinary Federation’s ‘Chef of the Year’, and Craft Guild of Chefs Restaurant Chef Award.
This year, Handling was crowned ‘Champion of Champions’ on the BBC’s Great British Menu, and his Majestic Chicken Pie was voted the winning dish on The One Show’s Coronation Dish competition.
As part of his GREAT Ambassadorship, Adam also created an official recipe for HRH King Charles III’s Coronation, for which he presented his Strawberry and Ginger Trifle, which was made at Coronation celebrations across the UK.
Handling said: “This truly is my proudest achievement yet, to the point that I still keep pinching myself thinking that this just can’t be real. I’ve always been quite a self-motivating person and I’ve set myself goals. One of those goals has always been to promote sustainable British food.
“It’s incredible to be appointed an MBE for two things that mean the most to me – education and hospitality. I always instil education, inspiration, motivation into my team – that’s our ethos and how we work every day.”
He added: “I am so overwhelmingly happy – this is, to date, the most heartwarming, humbling recognition I’ve ever received in my almost 20 years of cooking. Thanks to everyone who has been in my life, who have both positively and negatively contributed – you have all been part of making me who I am today.”