Gordon Ramsay Scholar 2004

Following a tense final at London's Restaurant Show last month, Marcus Eaves, sous chef at celebrated restaurant Hibiscus in Ludlow, emerged as 2004 Gordon Ramsay Scholar.

The 23-year-old chef trounced nine other young chefs at the cook-off at Olympia. Competitors were asked to create an amuse-bouche using mackerel, a chicken main dish (without roasting the birds whole), a stuffed, but ungratinated, artichoke (which raised a few eyebrows among some of the competitors who hadn't worked with the vegetable before), a wild mushroom risotto and a créme caramel dessert.

It was chairman of the judges Steven Doherty's idea to present créme caramel. "I wanted to throw the cat among the pigeons and ask the competitors to do something classically simple. Simplicity is the key. The winner is always the one who keeps things simple."

He said that mackerel was thrown in to put the competitors off their guard too. "We're all used to cooking with turbot and line-caught sea bass. The question with a simple thing like mackerel is ‘what are you going to do with it?'"

Although Eaves was confident he had cooked well, he was still surprised when awards presenter Davina McCall read his name out. "I was in total shock. Although the day went really well and I was confident I couldn't have done any better, I still couldn't believe that Gordon Ramsay and the other judges had picked me."

Among Eaves's prizes is a Hyundai Getz 1.1 GSO Supermini which he is looking forward to driving (once he has learnt to drive, that is). He will also be presented with the opportunity to experience several stages, including two in London - at Gordon Ramsay's Royal Hospital Road restaurant and with Marcus Wareing at Pétrus, both of which he hopes to take up in the new year. He plans to go to WD 50 in New York and to San Sebastian, Spain, for his overseas stints.

Runners-up Graham Walker of the Isle of Wight's George hotel, who finished in second place, and Mark Sycamore of Blanket Bay Resort in Glenorchy, New Zealand, who came third, were presented with a prizes including stages at a Gordon Ramsay restaurant and £500 and £250 respectively.

Ramsay will be extending the competition to Australia in 2005.

The finalists - James Barber, aged 24, the New Angel, Dartmouth, Devon
- Jamie Raftery, aged 21, Dower House, Lyme Regis, Dorset
- Trevor Cunningham, aged 23, Nuremore Hotel and Country Club, Carickmacross, County Monghan
- Alan Irwin, aged 24, Chapter One, Locksbottom, Kent
- Marcus Eaves, aged 23, Hibiscus, Ludlow, Shropshire (first place)
- Anna Haugh, aged 24, Pied … Terre, London
- Graham Walker, aged 24, the George hotel, Yarmouth, Isle of Wight (second place)
- Nathan Green, aged 22, Thyme restaurant, London (third place)
- Mark Sycamore, aged 25, Blanket Bay Resort, Christchurch (winner of the 2004 New Zealand Chef Search competition)
- Jane Mulholland, aged 20, the Institute of Technology, Tallaght, Dublin (winner of the Gordon Ramsay 2004 College Scholar competition)

Prizes
Marcus Eaves picked up…
- a Hyundai Getz 1.1 GSO Supermini (if you didn't know, What Car? Budget Car of the Year 2003)
- £3,000
- a commemorative Villeroy & Boch trophy (bottom of opposite page)
- a visit to the Villeroy & Boch factory in Luxembourg
- six unique Villeroy & Boch signature plates
- a stage at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, London
- a stage at restaurant Pétrus, London
- a magnum of wine from Enotria Winecellars
- two overseas stages
- a year's subscription to Caterer

The judges - Steven Doherty, chef-proprietor, the Punchbowl Inn, Crosthwaite and First Floor Café , Lakeland Ltd, Windermere
- Heston Blumenthal, chef-proprietor, the Fat Duck, the Riverside Brasserie and the Hinds Head, Bray, Berkshire
- David Pitchford, chef-proprietor, Read's, Macknade Manor, Faversham, Kent
- Richard Corrigan, chef-proprietor, Lindsay House restaurant, London
- Tristan Welch, head chef, Glenapp Castle, Ballantrae, Ayrshire and 2003 Gordon Ramsay Scholar
- Angela Harnett, chef-patronne, the Connaught, London
- Josh Emett, head chef, the Savoy Grill, London
- Marcus Wareing, chef-patron, Pétrus, the Savoy Grill and Banquette, London