Roux Scholarship 2008 to be named tonight

The 2008 Roux Scholar will be crowned this evening at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park in front of an audience of stellar chefs expected to include Thomas Keller and Ferran Adria.

The international presence at the award ceremony is a fitting finale for what is the 25th anniversary of the Roux Scholarship, considered the premier competition for young British chefs.

The scholar will emerge from a group of eight young chefs, all under the age of 30, who competed in a cook-off staged three weeks ago at London's Westminster Kingsway College during which they cooked a classic Escoffier recipe, sight-unseen until the day. Their culinary skills were then judged by a panel of industry experts led by scholarship founders Albert and Michel Roux and their respective sons, Michel Jr and Alain Roux.

The finalists were: Daniel Cox (Compass Group, USB, London), Christopher Golding (Nahm, London). Adam Peirson (Claridge's, London), Ryan Simpson (Winteringham Fields, Lincolnshire), Kevin Tew (Galvin at Windows, London), Matthew Wilkinson (Martha & Vincent, Ilkley).

View highlights from the cook-off and interviews with the six finalists, Brian Turner, Gary Rhodes and Michel Roux.