Northumberland chef reaches semi finals of young UK chef competition

A Northumberland chef has been named among the top young cooks in the UK and has reached the semi final stage of a highly respected nationwide competition.

Liam Smith, who is usually working at Restaurant Pine near Corbridge, is one of the 18 regional finalists for the 2024 edition of the Roux Scholarship.

In its 40th anniversary year, the scholarship is used as a way to train the top chefs from across the UK to become some of the world's best.

Smith is the only North East representative and he will be a part of the regional final stage in Birmingham on Thursday, March 7 facing off against other chefs from as far afield as Scotland, Cornwall and Lancashire.

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The national final will take place on Monday, April 8 with the winner getting the option of two prizes. These are either the chance to spend two months with a three star michelin chef anywhere in the world or £12,000 worth of training opportunities tailored to the winner.

As part of the process to reach this point, Smith needed to use a selection of ingredients to create a written recipe which was judged by chefs such as Michel Roux Jnr, best known for MasterChef: The Professionals, Saturday Kitchen and Food and Drink, Angela Hartnett OBE (Great British Menu), Brian Turner CBE (Ready, Steady, Cook) and James Martin (James Martin’s Saturday Morning).

They recipes were submitted anonymously to the judges, who took part in the Recipe Judging day on Wednesday, February 21. The finalists will compete in two regional finals which will be held simultaneously at University College Birmingham and the University of West London.