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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 AA has announced the shortlist for the 2012 Chefs' Chef of the Year award, with 15 of the UK's most celebrated chefs up for the title.

The prestigious accolade is voted for by all UK establishments holding AA Rosettes and this year's shortlist includes industry heavyweights such as Michel Roux Jnr, Sat Bains and Claude Bosi.

Other chefs nominated for the award are former Catey Chef of the Year winners Angela Hartnett, David Everitt-Matthias and Pierre Koffmann, as well as Michelin-starred chefs Jason Atherton, Daniel Clifford, Simon Rogan and Tom Kitchin. Tom Aikens, Richard Corrigan, Nigel Haworth, Michael Wignall and Jeff Bland complete this year's shortlist.

"For the AA Chefs' Chef Award a shortlist is drawn up annually of AA Rosette chefs who have made a strong impact and have positively influenced other chefs, both in the eyes of our inspectors and based on feedback we have received from the industry," said Giovanna Grossi, AA hotel services group area manager.

"They will have shown continued commitment to their profession and be worthy of recognition for their performance over the past year."

While establishments are able to add nominees to the shortlist, previous winners are of the award are excluded. Former winners include Michel Roux, Heston Blumenthal, Marco Pierre White, Gordon Ramsay, Raymond Blanc, Marcus Wareing and Andrew Fairlie.

The AA's Chefs' Chef Award will be presented at the AA Hospitality Awards on 24 September at the London Hilton Park Lane.

The organisers of the 2012 Roux Scholarship have named the six contenders for the April final of the prestigious culinary competition.

Robert Hutchins from Rudding Park Hotel in Harrogate, Edward Attwell from Loves Restaurant in Birmingham, and Adam Smith, from the Ritz, Pramod Ghadge from Catlin Underwriting Agencies operated by Harbour & Jones, Arbinder Dugal from Le Pont De La Tour, and Quinton Bennett from the Arch, all in London, will compete at Westminster Kingsway College on 2 April.

The six chefs secured their place in the final after competiting in the regional heats - held yesterday at University College Birmingham and the University of West London - where each of the contestants had two-and-a-half hours to cook a dish using spring chicken and veal heart sweetbreads accompanied by a sauce and featuring two garnishes, one of which had to be cauliflower-based and the other using a green vegetable of their choice. They also had to create a dessert from a bag of secret ingredients, which included banana, pink grapefruit, gelatine, almonds, butter, cream, milk and flour.

The Birmingham heat was judged by Brian Turner and former Roux Scholar Sat Bains. The London heat was judged by Michel Roux Jnr, chef-patron of Le Gavroche, Saturday Kitchen presenter James Martin, David Nicholls, corporate director of food and beverage for the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group and former Roux Scholars Andrew Fairlie and Steve Love.

Thirty minutes prior to the start of the competition, the finalists will be given the recipes and ingredients for a main dish, either classic or modern, and asked to prepare and present it. The winner will be announced at an awards ceremony at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park that evening. The winner will receive an invitation to cook and train under the supervision of a leading chef at a prestigious three-Michelin-starred restaurant anywhere in the world for up to three months, to the value of £5,000, courtesy of the Savoy Educational Trust.

 

Multi-Michelin-starred chefs Sat Bains, Claude Bosi and Jason Atherton (pictured) are to cook together for a Singaporean-inspired evening held at Pollen Street Social next month.

The chefs, who have five Michelin-stars between them, are coming together for the event on Sunday 26 February, following their four-day tour to Singapore, where Atherton recently opened his restaurant L'esquina.

The dinner is in collaboration with the Singapore Tourism Board as part of the Chef Exchange Programme, which aims to encourage creative ideas between chefs from different cultures.

Atherton says: "I am delighted to be hosting this evening with two extremely talented chefs; Claude Bosi from Hibiscus, London, and Sat Bains from Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms in Nottingham. It gives me great pleasure to share Singaporean cuisine with UK consumers and I fully support what the Chef Exchange Programme is aiming to achieve."

Pollen Street Social is now accepting bookings for the event, for arrival on the Sunday evening between 6.00-8.30pm, and for parties up to a maximum of eight guests. The special tasting menu will be £85 per person, with optional wine pairing in addition.