Daniel O' Donnell is used to people asking for his autograph.

"I get a lot of older people asking me to sign my name for them," he says. "They also ask me to sing."

Sharing a name with the popular Irish singer, who has an army of elderly fans, is where the similarity ends.

Daniel makes his living not from crooning but cooking. He is head chef at Skipton's stylish Canalside restaurant, enticing customers with fine food rather than fine vocals.

"I go out into the restaurant to speak to diners, so they get to know my name," says Daniel. "I'm used to people making comments about it. And I always get at least one Daniel O'Donnell CD or calendar for Christmas."

He has worked at the restaurant - overlooking the Leeds and Liverpool Canal - for two years, cooking modern French/English food using mainly locally-sourced ingredients.

Main courses on the evening a la carte menu include pan-seared escallop of seabass with lime puree and lemongrass sauce; poached fillet of three-dales beef with horseradish dauphinoise, watercress pesto and red wine sauce; and sauteed portabella mushroom, broad bean and spring onion risotto.

And from now until November 18, the taste buds of sausagaholics are in for a treat at a sausage festival. Sausages are being made from ingredients sourced from Airedale, Nidderdale and Wharfedale, and produced by renowned Dales butcher, Jackson's of Cracoe.

"There will be ten different sausages, including venison, pork and sweet chilli and Cumberland, plus ten types of mash and ten sauces," says Daniel, 30.

Originally from Manchester, he planned to become a PE teacher but suddenly changed his mind and set out to train as a chef.

"As a child I loved cooking and used to help my mum in the kitchen. While I was doing my A-levels I decided, almost overnight, that that was what I wanted to do."

A course in culinary arts followed, before he plunged into the world of work. It came as a shock. "Once I started in a professional kitchen I was taken aback by the hours and by how hard it was. As a chef you work long hours, and you are at work when everyone else is socialising - you don't get much of a social life yourself."

He was lucky enough to secure an apprenticeship at the reputable Nutters restaurant in Rochdale, working under celebrity chef Andrew Nutter.

Starting as commis chef, he then worked as chef de partie, and later pastry chef in the award-winning restaurant. "It was a very good grounding for me," he says.

Daniel went on to the Angel Inn at Hetton near Rylstone, his time at which, he says "had possibly the biggest influence on my cooking."

He credits head chef Bruce Elsworth for this. "He is a classic chef, a no-nonsense boss who demanded perfection, no less. If you did something wrong you knew about it, but he taught you very well.

Daniel's cooking has taken him abroad too, as a cook in ski chalets in the swanky Swiss resort of Verbier, and in a private villa in Cannes, South of France.

"Both were great fun. In Switzerland we had free lessons and lift passes as part of the job, which was great as I love skiing. In France, when the villa wasn't occupied, you had it to yourself with your own pool. I met some great people."

Daniel lives above the restaurant with girlfriend Kimberley, who works as assistant manager at Canalside, and their cats Titus and Orange.

He is settled and happy, and is aiming to put the restaurant firmly on the map. "I'd love some rosettes."

  • Canalside, Waterside Court, Coach Street, Skipton. Tel: (01756)795678.