There were six finalists but there could only be one winner, Harry Guy from the Eden Hotel Collection wins the Roux Scholarship 2016.

The support and development chef impressed this year’s judges and was rewarded with the prestigious title at tonight's ceremony which took place at The Manadarin Oriental Hotel.

Making the regional finals last year, Harry is no stranger to the competition and having previously worked at L'Enclume he comes from Simon Rogan training - Simon is well known for producing scholars. Harry also joins an elite list of chefs including past winners Andrew Fairlie,Sat Bains and Dan Cox.

He said: "It hasn't sunk in yet! I doubted myself and I wanted them to say it again just to make sure." "It's nice to do it for L'Enclume," he added. "And Mark Birchall who has given me a lot of advice and tips along the way. Simon Hague who I work for now has also given me a lot of support and time off."

The final took place at Westminster Kingsway College, London and this year the recipe details were a complete surprise; 30 minutes before the start of the competition the finalists were given the recipe and ingredients for a main dish to prepare and present it to the judges.

This year Pierre Gagnaire was the Honorary President of the Judges and said: "I have a lot of respect for the Roux family, they are French and now they have the English spirit - that's fantastic."

He added: "The dish the finalists cooked, it's not easy - I'm not sure I could do it!" The finalists were asked to create Norfolk Black Chicken en Croute with gratin cardoon

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and tarragon sauce.

Harry said: "Preparing for the final was really frustrating - I was looking through books but not really knowing what I was looking for. I was just trying to learn techniques and recipes.

"But it's a great privilege to have won, I just want to make them proud and it means the world to me. I have three places in mind for my stage but I want the advice of the Rouxs. I know it will benefit my career and I want it to be progressive." roux

The Eden Hotel Collection chef, who previously worked at L’Enclume, receives £6,000, and an invitation to cook and train under the supervision of a leading chef at a prestigious three star Michelin restaurant anywhere in the world for up to three months.

Commenting on the 33rd national final, Michel Roux Jr said: “At first sight it could seem like this was a straightforward and simple dish. However there were a lot of potential banana skins and Harry’s dish showed exceptional all round skills."

Alain Roux added: “Although it may sound simple we chose this dish because it’s technically challenging due to all the component parts. We were looking for suet dough with the perfect bite, chicken with maximum flavour, two well made sauces and correctly prepared soft cardoons. Once assembled the test was to cook the dish properly, without it becoming dry. It’s a pie – nothing more and a chef cooking in the UK should know how to cook a pie!”

>>> Read more about the Roux Scholarship 2016

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