AN AWARD-winning teenage chef is on course to be the youngest ever to be awarded a Michelin star.


Luke Thomas, 17, already has a host of achievements to his name including cooking for the Prince of Wales and working with top TV chefs Heston Blumenthal and Gary Rhodes.


Now he is jetting off to Dubai to work in the seven-star hotel Burj al Arab, before a stint at the world’s best restaurant Noma in Copenhagen, Denmark.


He said: “I’m looking forward to going to Dubai. The hotel is the only seven-star hotel in the world. It is going to be great experience. Going to Noma will also be a fantastic opportunity.


“All this experience is helping me. I am taking techniques from every kitchen I go to.”


Luke, from Connah’s Quay, has previously worked at the five-star Chester Grosvenor Hotel.


He won FutureChef 2009 at aged 15 and has won the Active Kids Get Cooking competition when he beat 10,000 high school pupils across the UK and also holds gold and silver medals in Welsh lamb cooking at the Welsh Culinary Olympics.


The youngest recipient of a Michelin star is Aiden Byrne who scooped the accolade aged 22, but Luke hopes to beat the record by one year.


Luke has also been working with Iain Donald, commercial director of Individual Restaurant Company, which has 33 restaurants in the UK.


He said: “Getting a Michelin star is what I am working towards and I have got the right sort of people helping me.


“Achieving a Michelin star is what most chefs aim for.


“I aim to be the world’s youngest Michelin starred chef by 21.  This year I’m working with some of the best chefs in the world.


“For the past four months I have been working with Iain alongside the teams looking at how they run the restaurant business so successfully.

This has been a huge eye opener to me as I have only worked in individual restaurants – not for larger companies.”