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Adam Smith, premier sous chef at the Ritz in London, has been named the 2012 Roux Scholar.

Smith, who had entered the prestigious competition for the first time this year, won the title following a fierce cook-off in the kitchens of London's Westminster Kingsway College this morning.

Competitors were asked to cook turbotin jubilee, whole braised turbot with lobster mousseline, scallops and caviar, garnished with artichoke bottoms and asparagus tips and a champagne sauce, in two hours and 30 minutes.

Their culinary skills were judged by a panel of industry experts headed by scholarship founder Michel Roux, his brother Albert, son Alain and nephew Michel Jnr. The judges also included former Roux Scholars two-Michelin-starred chefs Andrew Fairlie and Sat Bains as well as David Nicholls, Gary Rhodes, Brian Turner and the BBC2 Saturday Kitchen presenter James Martin.

A 2011 Acorn winner, 24-year-old Smith is already an experienced competition chef having won a gold medal at the 2009 WorldSkills competition in Calgary and assisted both former Roux Scholars Andre Garrett and Simon Hulstone as commis chef at the 2007 and 2009 Bocuse d'Or.

In 2010 he was selected to represent the English National Culinary Team at the Culinary World Cup in Luxembourg, winning a gold medal in the Restaurant of Nations. That same year he also won the Craft Guild's Young Chef of the Year award.

As the 29th winner of the Roux Scholarship, Smith has won a three-month all expenses paid stage at a three-Michelin-starred restaurant of his choice. He has also won an expenses-paid trip to Champagne Gosset in Ay, and a trip to visit the Caffe Musetti roasting factory in Milan.

The other five finalists were:
Edward Attwell, Love's Restaurant, Birmingham
Quinton Bennett, The Arch, London
Arbinder Dugal, Le Pont De La Tour, London
Pramod Ghadge, Catlin Underwriting Agencies operated by Harbour & Jones, London
Robert Hutchins, Rudding Park Hotel, Harrogate

The line-up for the regional finals for this year's Roux Scholarship has been announced.

There will be a total of 18 young chefs competing for a place in the finals, 13 of whom are entering the competition for the first time.

The two regional finals will take place on 8 March at University College Birmingham and the University of West London.

The challenge for the first stage of the competition, now in its 29th year, was for chefs to submit a recipe for four people using spring chicken and veal heart sweetbreads accompanied by a sauce and featuring two garnishes, one of which must be cauliflower-based and the other using a green vegetable of their choice.

In the regional finals each of the contestants will have two-and-a-half hours to cook their dish along with a dessert from a bag of secret ingredients.

A total of six chefs will then go through to the national final, held in London on 2 April, with the winner offered a three-month stage at a three-Michelin starred restaurant anywhere in the world.

Judges will include TV chef James Martin; the inaugural Roux Scholar Andrew Fairlie; David Nicholls; Gary Rhodes and Brian Turner, who will be joined by brothers Albert and Michel Roux and their sons Michel Jnr and Alain.

The 18 regional finalists are:

Competing in Birmingham:
Robert Hutchins, Rudding Park Hotel Harrogate
Oliver Farrar, The Arch, London
Jing Wang, The Plough, Coton, Cambridge
Edward Attwell, Loves Restaurant, Birmingham
Christopher Rawlinson, The Red Cat Restaurant, Chorley
Vladimir Hromek, University Centre - Riverside Restaurant, Cambridge

Judges will be Alain Roux, Brian Turner CBE

Competing in London:
Adam Smith, The Ritz, London
Pramod Ghadge, Catlin Underwriting Agencies Ltd, Harbour & Jones, London
Matthew Whitfield, The Montagu Arms Hotel, Beaulieu, Hampshire
Ilias Kariotoglou, Stoke Park, The Dining Room Restaurant.
Arbinder Dugal, Le Pont De La Tour, London
Quinton Bennett, The Arch, London
Jonathan Boyd, Coco Restaurant, Belfast
Kyle Jenkins, The Square, London
Mark Charker, Ockenden Manor Hotel, Cuckfield, W Sussex
Adam Thomason, Wykeham Arms, Winchester
Andrew Smith, Thackery's Restaurant, Tunbridge Wells
Nuno Goncalves, Galvin At Windows, London

Judges will be Michel Roux Jnr, Andrew Fairlie, David Nicholls and James Martin

 

Celebrity chef Gary Rhodes is to host a special dinner at his Michelin-starred restaurant Rhodes 24 in aid of charity Help for Heroes.

Located atop Tower 42 in the City of London, the restaurant will play host to the event on 22 June and offer up to 80 diners the chance to sample Rhodes's award-winning cooking.

Rhodes hopes to raise £15,000 for Help for Heroes, which supports troops who have been wounded in Britain's current conflicts.

The five-course menu, which will be paired with wine, will include dishes such as pan fried halibut with seared English asparagus, casserole of peas, broad beans and white asparagus cream; fillet of beef with oxtail cottage pie and buttered baby leeks; and a Rhodes Twenty Four signature pudding plate.

There will also be a silent charity auction, with prizes including lunch for six prepared by the Rhodes 24 team on the roof of the 600ft Tower 42 overlooking London.

Tickets to the one off event are £185 and bookings can be made at reservations@rhodes24.co.uk or by calling 020 7877 7703.