Final six chosen for Roux Scholarship 2009

Two past finalists have won through – Steven Stephens of Porth Tocyn in Abersoch and Christopher Golding of Nahm. They will be joined by Helene Anderson from Ambassade de l'Ile, London; Quinton Bennett from The Westbury Mayfair ; Kevin Sutherland from Baxter Storey and Hrishikesh Desai from Lucknam Park in Wiltshire. Two of the contestants work with Roux Scholars: Anderson works with 2007 Scholar Armand Sablon and Bennett is in the brigade of Andrew Jones, the 2004 Scholar. The finalists all prepared their recipes for best end of lamb, which had been their original entry requirement. They were also asked to produce a dessert from a surprise box of ingredients given to them on the day itself – these ingredients were eggs, milk, double cream, sugar, gelatine, and vanilla. Commenting on the cook off Michel Roux Junior said: "The standard this year was quite exceptional and it was a tough call to choose just six. The competitors have, of course, had plenty of time to practise their lamb recipe and perfect it. But when we saw the standard of desserts produced – with minimal time for planning, an extremely tight list of ingredients and in the tense atmosphere of the regional finals – we were really pleased." Alain Roux added: "Those who were selected showed strong technical skills and great potential, especially for this stage of the competition. We all felt that the candidates were a real credit to their establishments." Added Gary Rhodes, who, with Heston Blumenthal, Andrew Fairlie and Brian Turner, judged in London. Alain Roux was joined in Birmingham by this year's guest judge Richard Vines from Bloomberg and 1997 Roux Scholar Steve Love from the Cotswold House Hotel." At the National Finals on 6 April Michel Roux senior and his brother Albert will chair the panel, which comprises Heston Blumenthal, Andrew Fairlie, David Nicholls, Gary Rhodes, Michel Roux Junior, Alain Roux, Brian Turner and Richard Vines. The Awards ceremony will be held later the same day at Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park. The 2009 Roux Scholar will not only win the famous three month expenses paid stage at a European 3-star Michelin establishment, but a week's paid work-experience in New York, courtesy of Restaurant Associates; an expenses paid trip including travel and overnight accommodation to visit the wine cellars of Champagne Gosset at Aÿ for a guided tour of the production process, a trip to visit the Caffé Musetti roasting factory in Milan and a set of Global Knives to the value of £1,000.