A CHEF who makes the best Sunday lunch in the UK can currently be found cooking for diners in Weaverham.

The Hanging Gate Inn, in Sandy Lane, has welcomed Nicola Duncan, winner of the Observer Food Monthly’s Best Sunday Lunch Award 2012, as the latest recruit to its kitchen.

Nic is already making her mark at the pub after working with Kingsmead man Dave Mooney, chef and co-owner, to create a new menu for the summer season.

Dave said: “I think it’s really great for a country pub in Cheshire to secure the services of a very well known chef from Manchester.

“It shows our ambition as a company and also how happy we are with the standard of produce available in mid Cheshire.

“Nic has reinvigorated my kitchen and it’s really good to see our ambition matched by someone else’s.”

Dave and co-owner Paul Newman make up The New Moon Pub Company, which also owns The Lord Binning, in Kelsall, The Old Sessions House, in Knutsford, and The Montgomery, in Wirral, and employs 104 people.

“As a company we were two years old a couple of weeks ago,” Dave said.

“So to have four pubs in two years, which on average is one every six months, is great.

“We’ve opened our first pub in Wirral and that was really scary because it’s out of our comfort zone – people aren’t going to come over because of me or Paul but because it’s good, reputation will really count.

“But it’s very simple, we’re about great food, great beer, really good wine and pubs that look great.”

The new menu includes fun dishes like Cheshire cheese bon-bons served with a beetroot, Vimto and orange dressing, or beef brisket lollipops with a sweet chilli dip.

The emphasis remains on local produce, with dishes like a crockpot of Cheshire chicken and Toulouse sausage on the menu, the sausages being sourced from Julian Price, of Goostrey.

Dave said: “Nic has brought the best of city centre style, modernism and finesse and combined it with the fabulous produce available.

“It’s win-win.”