MasterChef: The Professionals 2022 champion announced

Nikita Pathakji, 25, a junior sous chef at Michelin-starred Kitchen W8 in London, was crowned MasterChef: The Professionals champion 2022 last night, the 16th winner of the BBC One televised competition.

The last challenge for the three finalists was producing the “best three courses of their lives” in just three hours.

Pathakji’s winning menu started with sea bass cured in a citrus dressing, smoked aubergine purée, spicy red pepper purée with pomegranate, preserved lemon, parsley oil and a side of aubergine crisps.

Inspired by her favourite dish from her time in Thailand, Khao Soi, her main course was crispy chicken thighs, tortellini filled with chicken, mushrooms and coriander and coriander oil, topped with handmade sev, finished with a coconut curry sauce and a side of crispy chicken skin dusted with chilli powder, topped with a mango, cumin and onion purée.

To finish, she served cardamom and custard tart, apricot poached in honey syrup, topped with a honey tuile and an apricot, honey and lemon sorbet.

The challenges this week also included the chance to cook for 20 culinary heavyweights at the five-star Lanesborough hotel in London, including Matt Abé of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, Nieves Barragán Mohacho of Sabor, Lisa Goodwin-Allen of Northcote, Jason Atherton of the Social Company and the former MasterChef judge and chef-patron of Mere, Monica Galetti. They also cooked for food critics including Jay Rayner, William Sitwell, Leyla Kazim, Jimi Famurewa and April Jackson.

Pathakji entered the competition alongside 31 other professional chefs, impressing judges Marcus Wareing, Anna Haugh and Gregg Wallace with innovative dishes inspired by her travels.

Wareing said: “She’s a chef that has grown right in front of our eyes. Her food has been sublime and she’s always come up with an amazing twist.”

Haugh added: “Nikita is on the road to creating a very unique cuisine. And that is why she’s our champion. As soon as Nikita walked into the kitchen I could see she had class.”

After her A-levels, instead of going to university to study chemistry, Pathakji followed her passion and embarked on cooking career. She trained with Westminster Kingsway College and at the end of her apprenticeship, travelled for nine months around Asia.

Pathakji said: “I didn’t let myself dream of getting to this point when I entered. I’ve given everything to this. Sleepless nights is an understatement!

“Next, I’d love to do pop-ups and festivals to cook for as many people as physically possible. It would be brilliant to work alongside the other MasterChef finalists to do bespoke menus and events. My long-term goal is to be a chef-owner of a successful restaurant where I get to cook my own food every day. I’d want to foster a great working environment, much like my current workplace. Championing women in the industry, as well as creating a good work life balance, is so important to me.”

Photo: BBC/Shine TV