Southsea chef is 'blown away' to make semi-final in competition to find Britain's best young chef

30-year-old Nicole Benham-Corlette, a chef from Southsea, is through to the semi-finals of a competition to find Britain's best young chef. The Roux Scholarship, in which Nicole will be competing at the London regional final on March 9, is judged by the likes of Michel Roux Jnr, Brian Turner CBE, James Martin and other Michelin-starred chefs.

Following a push for more diversity – particularly female chefs – in this year’s competition, Nicole, who works as a sous chef at Boathouse 4 Restaurant in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, felt encouraged to enter, as well as being inspired by former and fellow finalist Ruth Hansom.

‘I’m blown away. For 30 years I’ve been looking for validation that I can cook, and this is it, said Nicole. ‘It’s really surreal, I'm so grateful and overwhelmed to be taking part. I am nervous, but I’m also really excited just to get to experience it. To be in the room with people I’ve watched on TV that inspired me to become a chef.’

The 18 chefs, and two reserves, were selected from their written recipes that used striploin of dry-aged beef, a beef offal ingredient and Belgian chicory, which were submitted anonymously to the judges.

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‘Part of the challenge is to think on your feet and see how you can develop a recipe to a certain standard,’ said Nicole.

Nicole, who grew up in south Devon and moved to Southsea in 2020, had a keen interest in food from a young age. She said: ‘I was obsessed with Ready Steady Cook growing up, because I'm mixed race, I was obsessed with Ainsley Harriott and it just grew from there, to just being obsessed with food!’

The winner of the scholarship will receive up to £12,000, to support their career development and an invitation to cook and train under the supervision of a leading chef at a three-star Michelin restaurant anywhere in the world for up to two months.

‘That’s exactly what I would my use my prize money for,’ adds Nicole. ‘Some new equipment, specialist courses, I love everything about France. I’d love to go to France and do one of the old-school French patisserie courses, and new uniform.’