Hotel Café Royal chef wins S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy UK competition

Ben Miller, sous chef at Alex Dilling at Hotel Café Royal, won the 2024-2025 S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy UK regional final.

He beat eight other finalists and will compete in the grand finale taking place in Milan next year.

At the competition final, which took place at Le Cordon Bleu Cookery School in London, Miller won over the jury of Santiago Lastra, Nokx Majozi, Lorna McNee and Adam Smith, with his signature dish Ode to Sam Yee.

The recipe featured crowned roasted duck breast with Szechuan jus and garlic choi sum, confit leg rice under brown butter sabayon with a foie gras “siu mai” in an Alsace bacon consommé paired with MingCha jasmine blossom tea.

In addition, Miller won the Acqua Panna Connection in Gastronomy Award, which celebrates the dish that best represents the culinary heritage of its native region and was voted for by nine participating mentors ahead of the competition.

He said: “I have entered 13 competitions like this during my career and this is the very first I have won so I am delighted. It’s always a huge challenge to take part in these tests and coming away with a loss can be disheartening but it also makes us young chefs hungrier to succeed and today shows that with determination, you can get there.

“The S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition has been such a fantastic process to be a part of and it’s been amazing to see so much talent across all of our signature dishes. I’m so happy to have won and I look forward to representing the UK at the global finale next year.”

Two other chefs were also awarded at the regional final event, winning the collateral awards, and will have the chance to win respective global titles, also announced at the grand finale next year:

•             S.Pellegrino Social Responsibility Award – Sude Hancher, for her cauliflower and halibut dish

•             Fine Dining Lovers Food for Thought Award – Kurtus Auty for his courgette dive dish

The S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Awards are held every two years to champion and celebrate young chef talent throughout the world, encouraging them to bring their best to the table.