The IoH, who manages the entire competition on behalf of the Roux family, were on hand to congratulate the emotional winner at the exclusive awards dinner at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, where the hard-fought competition concluded. The announcement was made in front of a small audience comprising the finalists’ guests, sponsors and judges, with the ceremony live-streamed via the Roux Scholarship website and YouTube channel.
It was the first time April had entered The Roux Scholarship and it was her last chance to do so before reaching the age limit. She said on winning: “I’m gobsmacked, this will change my life!” She then went on to thank her family and friends, including winner 2020/21 Oli Williamson, who encouraged her to enter and her chef Brett Graham. “Thank you, Brett, for making me feel like I can achieve anything,” she said.
April said: “It was really tough brief. Monkfish is tricky, it’s very easy to overcook. Once I got into the kitchen I began to question my reasoning and interpretation of what was required in the brief. I began to change what I had planned and for the first hour, I was still working out what to do. I wasn’t 100% happy but we are all hard taskmasters on ourselves!”
Michel Roux Jr said: “It was an exceptional final. I thought we were in for a good final and so it proved. We had six finalists, six styles and six very different dishes. The new format allowed the chefs to truly show off their skills and character on a plate. Given a wider choice of ingredients they all rose to the challenge and our guest judges said they’ll be taking some of the ideas back home with them to France.”
Alain Roux said: “It was a tremendous challenge, they had to do it all in their own vision as they wouldn’t have come across the dish before, so it was new to them all. Textures were so important in this competition and some of the six put a lot of work in, using a very large number of the ingredients available. It was amazing.”
April was battling it out against the chef competitors: Ben Champkin from The Newt in Somerset, Christopher Clarke from Core by Clare Smyth in London, Oliver Dovey from Baxterstorey in London, Sam Lomas from Glebe House in Devon, and Alex Rothnie from L’Enclume in Cumbria.
The judging panel was led by joint Honorary Presidents of Judges, Michel Troisgros and his son César, whose restaurant at Troisgros in the Roannais region of south-east France has held three Michelin stars longer than any other restaurant in the world. They led the panel alongside joint chairmen Alain and Michel Jr, who were joined by Brian Turner CBE, Angela Hartnett OBE, Rachel Humphrey, Sat Bains (1999 scholar), André Garrett (2002 Scholar), Simon Hulstone (2003 scholar).
Supporters
The Roux Scholarship would like to thank the Institute of Hospitality, University College Birmingham, University of West London and Westminster Kingsway College for their support. Details of all sponsors and supporters are included on the Roux Scholarship website.
Massive congratulations to all the finalists and special congratulations to April, from everyone at the IoH and particularly from our events team, who have eagerly watched your progress first-hand, throughout the competition.
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