Roux Scholarship 2025 winner revealed

Craig Johnston, head chef of Angler Restaurant in Moorgate, has been announced as the winner of this year's edition of the Roux Scholarship after a final held at The Waterside Inn earlier this week. Johnston was one of six finalists who competed for the title of Roux Scholar at the three-Michelin-starred Waterside Inn in Bray on Monday. The Roux Scholarship was established by Albert and Michel Roux in 1983, and is now overseen by their sons, Michel Roux Jr and Alain Roux respectively. This year's final tasked the competing chefs with the creation of a dish inspired by one of honorary president of judges and chef of the three-Michelin-starred Arzak in San Sebastián, Elena Arzak: Wyndford Wagyu shank served alongside bone marrow, borlotti beans and stuffed potatoes, the latter in a Basque style (given that Arzak's focus is Basque cuisine). Arzak also worked at Le Gavroche in 1989, at the age of 19. "All the finalists expressed their individual, personal identities in the dishes they cooked," commented Arzak. "That’s the future of gastronomy; the young chefs have new ideas and no limits to their creativity. There was a clear winner for me and all the judges agreed on that.” In addition to Arzak and the Roux cousins, the other judges of the final were Emily Roux (whose Notting Hill restaurant Caractère recently gained its first Michelin Star), Rachel Humphrey, Brian Turner, Angela Hartnett, Sat Bains (winner of the 1999 Roux Scholarship), André Garrett (winner in 2002) and Simon Hulstone (winner in 2003). "It was a good test and, when the theme of the task was unveiled, we saw a few of them scratching their heads and looking at reference books to understand their challenge," said Michel Roux Jr. "Pressure cookers are being used more and more again, so it was a good part of the test. Braising the beef shin in time needed a pressure cooker but no-one was late, in fact it’s probably the best year we’ve had for punctuality in serving their dishes. There were some great flavours in every plate." Johnston's prize for winning the competition is £6,000, with a further £6,000 payment to follow if he stays at his current employer, Angler Restaurant, for the next 15 months. He has a choice between two star prizes: the possibility to cook under the guidance of a chef of a three-Michelin-starred restaurant for up to two months, or a training programme developed specifically to suit him. In 2017, Johnston also won television cookery competition Masterchef: The Professionals. He is the first chef to have won both that contest and the Roux Scholarship.