A TALENTED young chef from Whatley Manor Hotel in Malmesbury has won through to the semi-finals of a competition to find Britain’s best young chef.

Ricki Weston, a sous chef at the internationally acclaimed hotel, will be one of six taking part in the regional final in Birmingham on Thursday, March 14.

The Roux Scholarship has been running for more than 30 years and is judged by a host of famous chefs, including Michel Roux Junior, star of BBC Saturday Kitchen, Kitchen Impossible and Masterchef, Brian Turner CBE of BBC’s Ready, Steady, Cook, and James Martin of BBC Saturday Kitchen, This Morning and Saturday Morning with James Martin.

Ricki will have two and a half hours to prepare and serve both his recipe and the dessert, and will be given a mystery box of ingredients to prepare a dessert to serve four people.

The contest began in 1984 and is open to chefs under 30 who are working professionally in the UK, whether they are employed in fine-dining restaurants, hotels, foodservice, pubs or cafes