Claridge’s Olivia Burt first woman to reach Roux Scholarship Finals in 4 Years

Olivia Burt (23 years old) the Sous Chef at Claridge’s Hotel in Mayfair has reached the finals of the Roux Scholarship. She is the first woman to do this since Sabrina Gidda Executive Chef at Allbright made it to the finals 4 years ago. A few days before the regional finals Olivia spoke to Mecca Ibrahim co-founder of Women in The Food Industry about her journey to this achievement.

Olivia started out as a private chef and worked for the late Joël Robuchon in Paris. She studied at Le Cordon Bleu and at Ballymaloe Cookery School in Cork (where MasterChef The Professionals entrant Joey O’Hare also trained).  She had worked for Simon Rogan when he had the Fera at Claridge’s residence. While working for Simon she won a Royal Academy of Culinary Arts’ Annual Award of Excellence in 2017.

When asked how she started to prepare for the Roux Scholarship she said: “Our Executive Chef  Martyn Nail at Claridge’s really encouraged me. I spent my first two weeks here focusing on my application taking photographs and making notes for my Roux Scholarship entry.”

Focus and timing was key to her success when she took part in the regional finals on 14th March 2019 at the University of West London. She faced a prestigious judging panel made up of Michel Roux Jr (who’s Chairman of the overall judging panel), Sat Bains, Rachel Humphrey, James Martin and André Garrett.  

“Timing is most crucial at the Roux Scholarship as you only have two and half hours to make the hogget dish, your sides and a dessert from a mystery box of ingredients.” she said  “You need to see how fast you can get things done and in the best possible way.  So I am going to need about 30-45 minutes for the dessert and the plating aspect.”

Olivia’s success on 14th March means she now goes through to the Roux Scholarship National finals taking place on 1st April 2019 at Westminster Kingsway College in the heart of London.

You can read the full interview with Olivia Burt at Women in The Food Industry. 

Contact Information

Mecca Ibrahim

Founder

Mexmarketing Ltd

mex@mexmarketing.co.uk