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Janet Street-Porter is guest at meal to mark Jonny's life

11:19, 23 May 2012

Jonny Dunhill
Jonny Dunhill

Janet Street-Porter will be guest of honour at a fundraising tribute dinner for Jonny Dunhill (pictured right), owner of Ramsgate’s Eddie Gilbert’s restaurant and wet fish shop, who died of cancer in February aged just 49.

The TV presenter and newspaper columnist is a big fan of Eddie Gilbert’s fish and chips and a regular visitor to the restaurant.

The special dinner featuring Jonny’s favourite dishes will raise funds for Pilgrims Hospice in Margate, where Jonny spent his final days, as well as Cancer Research UK.

Janet Street-Porter
Janet Street-Porter

Money will also be used for the creation of an annual bursary scheme, where students of Kent’s catering colleges will compete to win funding to allow them to train with an international chef.

The six-course menu will be served at Thanet College’s Bay View Restaurant in Broadstairs on Monday, May 28, and will include Jonny’s all-time favourite – brown shrimp croquette, pickled cucumber, crispy parsley and a sherry vinegar emulsion – designed by the award-winning Craig Mather.

Eddie Gilbert’s original head chef, Craig, now works as a chef lecturer at the college in between his shifts at the King Street seafood restaurant.

He says the bursary will make a fitting tribute: "By creating the scheme and a local young chef award, we can continue to keep the memory of Jonny fresh in the minds of local people for years to come, whilst helping raise the standards of local cooking – something very dear to his heart."

A charity auction is also planned that will see everything from designer clothing and cookware to golf days and a week’s stay at a luxury cottage going under the hammer.

Numbers are restricted to 70 diners, so early booking is advisable.

Tickets are £30 and available from Eddie Gilbert’s at 32 King Street in Ramsgate or online from Thanet College via www.thanet.ac.uk/bookings

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