Finalists for 2025 Roux Scholarship revealed

The final six chefs were selected following two regional finals in Birmingham and London.

The Birmingham final was judged by Michel Roux, Sat Bains (Roux Scholar 1999), Simon Hulstone (Roux Scholar 2003) and Rachel Humphrey, while the London event was overseen by Alain Roux, Brian Turner, Emily Roux, Angela Hartnett, Andre Garrett (Roux Scholar 2002) and Adam Smith (Roux Scholar 2012).

The 18 regional finalists, and two reserves, were challenged to cook the recipe they had submitted with their application, which involved using two whole red gurnards, St. Austell deep sea mussels and red dulse seaweed.

Chefs had two and half hours’ cooking time and also had to serve a dessert for four people made from a mystery box of 20 ingredients including blood oranges, lemons and the Macallan Double Cask 12-Year-Old Whisky.

Michel Roux said: “Gurnard is not an easy fish to showcase and to cook with, so today we have six very well-cooked dishes and all of them very individual. The dessert seemed to be a bit of stumbling block for most of our chefs, but saying that, it’s been a very good competition and all the judges are leaving with very full tummies.”

Renowned chef Elena Arzak will lead the judging panel for the 41st national final. She is the fourth generation of her family to run the kitchen at the three-Michelin-starred Restaurante Arzak in San Sebastián, Spain.

The 2025 Roux Scholar will receive up to £12,000, a two-month stage at a three-Michelin-starred restaurant anywhere in the world or the option of a bespoke training programme tailored to their interest and skills gaps, and prizes from the competition sponsors.

The scholarship was founded by Michel Roux Sr and his brother Albert Roux in 1984 to help a new generation of British chefs to train in some of the best restaurants in the world.