One of the Isle of Man's best known chefs has been appointed Chef de Cuisine at the Palace Hotel and Casino.

Chef Edward Pepper will oversee the kitchen of the Paragon Restaurant, as well as the hotel's functions and events, banqueting, in-room service and bar menus.

He has become a familiar face since moving to the Island with his family from Malawi in 1987.

Since then he has worked at the Castletown Golf Links, the Chart Room in Laxey, Ramsey Golf Club and La Cucina.

Chef Pepper said: 'My aim is to build on the already high standard of cuisine across all areas of the hotel.

'I have been working towards forming a hand-picked 'brigade' of new chefs, from applications we have received from people who are driven and committed to producing food of the highest quality.

'Many of them have trained at the Isle of Man College and I'm looking forward to producing delicious and visually appealing food with them. I will also be working towards developing exciting and extensive new menus across the hotel.'

One of Chef Pepper's first challenges was overseeing catering for the Commonwealth Youth Games at the Palace Hotel. As well as providing breakfast for almost 200 competitors and officials who stayed at the hotel, it fed over 1,500 people for dinner every evening – a total of 11,000 meals!

Chef Pepper and his team are now looking forward to a very busy Christmas and New Year period when, as well as looking after hotel residents, they will cater for a range of events and functions, lunch and dinner services.