A promising Edinburgh-based chef is in the running to be named the Best Young Chef in the UK.
Max Davies, who is originally from North Wales but works as a sous chef at Aizle, is through to the regional finals of The Roux Scholarship, a prestigious award that has been running for more than 30 years and is judged by the likes of celebrity chefs Michel Roux Jnr and James Martin.
Posting about his success, the team at Aizle on Charlotte Square wrote: "Huge congratulations to our senior sous chef, Max, on reaching the final stage of the Roux Scholarship this year.
"We are very proud to have a member of our team competing in one of the UK's most prestigious competitions for chefs and hope you'll all join us in wishing him the best of luck!"
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A delighted Max said: "I’m deeply thrilled to be in the Roux Scholarship this year. It’s a competition that I have great respect for and some incredible chefs have won before. So I’m just practising as much as I can to prepare myself.
"I have all the support around me working at Aizle pushes me every day to become a better chef. Working with Stuart is a big advantage because he’s got lots of experience in this area and he’s constantly pushing for a better day than yesterday."
He is now hoping to follow in the footsteps of last year's winner Jonnie Ferguson, who became only the third Scottish chef to scoop the title of Roux Scholar.
He is now set to compete in the regional final in Birmingham on Thursday, March 9, and is the only entrant that is based in Scotland competing.
Speaking about this year's award, Alain Roux said: “It’s great to see that our regional finalists come from all over the UK and a variety of different establishments. Regarding the recipes, I’m pleased to see so many chefs choose to cook the ox heart as part of their recipes, I really like that ingredient. In general, there was a really high standard and I can’t wait to taste everything."
This year, 12 of the 18 finalists are new to the competition and they hail from hotels, pubs, private member’s clubs and contract catering establishments in all four countries of the United Kingdom.
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. They were submitted anonymously to the judges, who took part in the Recipe Judging day at Roux at The Waterside Inn last month.
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