CELEBRITY chef Debbie Halls-Evans is getting a taste of the high life by jetting across the pond to launch pop-up restaurants in Los Angeles and New York.

Debbie, the UK winner of Channel 4 cookery show The Taste, will be teaming up with the USA winner of the show Louise Leonard to launch the restaurants in the glamorous American cities.

The duo will be putting their heads together to come up with special recipes for their FoodFest event, which will feature a showcase of their best creations between October 29 and November 13.

Debbie, from Horwich, says she cannot wait to take her own “maverick” style of home cooking to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

The 43-year-old said: “I’m really looking forward to meeting up with Louise. It’s huge for both of us. The tickets have been booked so it’s all very real now.

“Louise won the US version of The Taste, and she was also on Ludo’s team, which shows just how fantastic he is as a mentor.

“It would be great if he could make it to one of our pop-ups and see how far his apprentices have come.”

In The Taste, the mum-of-four impressed with dishes including her starter of vanilla scallops and pea purée, main dish of rabbit and red wine, and dessert of lavender apple and caramelised fig.

Since her success on the show, featuring Nigella Lawson, Ludo Lefebvre and Anthony Bourdain, Mrs Halls-Evans has been involved with a number of high profile events around the borough.

These include demos and cookery schools at Middlebrook Retail Park, a pop-up restaurant at the Cowshed in Horwich, and a special meal to celebrate the plans to open up the Vaults in the Market Place.