A YOUNG North Wales chef narrowly missed out on a £1,000 first prize during a competition at a leading central London restaurant.
Hefin Roberts, of Coleg Llandrillo, Rhos on Sea, was one of six young trainees competing to impress the tastebuds of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey.
Ramsay, formerly a teenage apprentice with Glasgow Rangers, who is known for his fiery temperament, congratulated the 19-year-old on his efforts.
The contest took place at award-winning Ramsay's acclaimed Petrus restaurant where six City brokers once spent £44,000 on a celebratory lunch.
The victor, Josh Eggleton, 19, from Bristol, beat Hefin and other young hopefuls to be named top college chef. He scooped the Gordon Ramsay Scholar college title 2003 and gets the chance to work in a top kitchen in France.
To enter the competition student chefs had to say why they liked their favourite recipe in 100 words with the six best entrants going through to yesterday's final.
They then battled it out to create two dishes from a box of almost 50 unseen ingredients.
Each student was set the task of creating a main course and dessert in twoand-a half-hours with ingredients from a communal larder and an unseen box of produce which included pork fillets, Braeburn apples, a medium pineapple, beetroot, a bottle of Madeira and cardamom seeds.
Their final dishes were put to a panel of four experts, led by the formidable Ramsay who set up the competition in a bid to recognise young talent.
Hefin previously of Cobdens, Capel Curig, has cooked with the junior Welsh National Culinary Team.
