Regional Finalists Announced for 2023 Roux Scholarship
The 18 regional finalists for the 2023 Roux Scholarship competition have been announced, and with a truly diverse group of talented young chefs qualifying for the next round excitement is building ahead of the two regional finals which will be held simultaneously on Thursday 9th March at University College Birmingham and University of West London, Ealing.
As main sponsors of the Roux Scholarship since its inception 40 years ago Global are immensely proud to continue our support the next generation of professional chef talent across the UK.
Following a push for more diversity at the launch of this year’s competition, with the Round Table discussion and publication of the White Paper, Women Chefs and The Roux Scholarship, the Roux Family have been delighted to see an increase in applications from female chefs with four qualifying for the regional finals.
The 18 chefs, and two reserves, were selected from their written recipes that used striploin of dry-aged beef, a beef offal ingredient and Belgian chicory. They were submitted anonymously to the judges, who took part in the Recipe Judging day at Roux at The Waterside Inn on 22nd February 2023.
Competing in the Birmingham Regional Final are…
- Christopher Clarke, from Core by Clare Smyth, London
- Ruth Hansom, Swinton Estate, North Yorkshire Max Davies, Aizle, Edinburgh
- Steven Newton, Coast restaurant, Saundersfoot
- Alexander Rothnie, L’Enclume, Cartmel, Cumbria
- Dillon Smyth, Balloo Inns Limited, Comber
Competing in the London Regional Final are…
- Aaron Blais, The Ritz, London
- Nicole Benham-Corlette, Boathouse 4 Restaurant, Portsmouth
- Jack Cannell, The Tytherleigh Arms, Axminster
- Ben Champkin, The Newt, Somerset
- Harry Donnelly, The RAF Club, London
- Oliver Dovey, Baxterstorey, London
- Sam Lomas, Glebe House, Devon
- Lucila Mattiauda, Seven Park Place by William Drabble, London
- Yogesh Singh Yadav, The May Fair, London
- April Lily Partridge, The Ledbury, London
- Ryan Porter, The Double Red Duke, Cotswolds
- Subhan Malik, The Beaumonth Hotel, London
An impressive standard of talent
For the regional final, competitors will have 2½ hrs to cook their dish, along with a dessert from a mystery box of ingredients given to them on the day. The judges will be looking for recipes and methods, which demonstrate the best balance of creativity, taste, style and practicality in the finished dish.
Commenting on this years finalists Michel Roux Jr expressed how: “The standard in general of this year’s entries was superb and it was great to read so many recipes that showed very imaginative ways of using offal.”
Alain Roux added: “It’s great to see that our regional finalists come from all over the UK and a variety of different establishments. Regarding the recipes, I’m pleased to see so many chefs choose to cook the ox heart as part of their dishes, I really like that ingredient. In general, there was a really high standard and I can’t wait to taste everything.”
Simon Hulstone is pleased to see more diversity in this years competition: “It’s great to see more female competitors in the list, some are ones that I’ve seen come through Future Chef competitions and so to see them now, getting into a competition of this stature, is fantastic. But also, it’s great to see some previous finalists that have come back from over the years to have another go and to see some new names and new establishments getting involved.”
James Martin has also been impressed by the standard of recipes: “Speaking with the other judges, it was clear that there were certain recipes that really did stand out for all of us. And that’s great because we don’t know the name, we don’t know where they work. All we get given is a number, and it’s exciting to find out at the end, once they’re all chosen, who they all are.”
I’m sure you’ll join us in wishing all the competitors the best of luck. With such a talented roster of young chefs we’re certainly excited to see more at the next stage of the competition. Of course anyone using GLOBAL Knives will have a competitive advantage even if we say so ourselves.
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