A YOUNG Lancashire chef is to enjoy the culinary experience of a lifetime by working in two Spanish Michelin- starred restaurants.

Simon Salt, 24, from Darwen, who won North West Young Chef of the Year in 2008, received a bursary from sales of Home Grown, a book about the food champ-ions of the North West.

It enables him to work in two of the world’s top restaurants in the Basque region of Spain with chef Paul Askew, of The London Carriage Works, one mastermind behind the book.

At Accrington and Rossendale College, Simon completed an NVQ while working part-time at the award-winning Northcote Manor.

He said: “I was always interested in cooking from when I was young.

“I was always in the kitchen with my mum cooking lasagne and things like that.

“I like my food. I did cooking at school and that was the only thing I passed!”

He added: “Words can’t describe how I feel about this chance to go to San Sebastian. It is mind-blowing.”