A chef from Cumbria has made it to the semi finals of a prestigious competition looking to find the best young talent.

Megan Montibert currently works at the highly-acclaimed Michelin-starred L’Enclume restaurant in Cartmel.

She is the latest in a long line of entrants from Simon Rogan’s three-star restaurant and will compete in the semi-finals in London on Thursday March 7.

The recognition comes as part of the Roux Scholarship, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2024.

The Mail: The exquisite dish that secured Megan's place in the next roundThe exquisite dish that secured Megan's place in the next round (Image: Megan Montibert)

Megan will be up against 17 other chefs to reach the next stage of the contest, with 14 of the contingent being debutants.

As well as it being her first time going for the scholarship, she is one of three women looking to make it to the final.

Chairman Alain Roux said: “It was great to see so many new candidates taking part in the competition.

"It shows how, despite the difficulties in today’s hospitality industry, so many young chefs are dedicated to improving their skills and gaining new experience by taking part in the Scholarship.”

This year’s challenge was to create a recipe using one short loin of free-range gilt pork from the shoulder end, weighing anywhere between 1.6kg and 1.8kg, untrimmed with four bones in, plus two fresh pork kidneys, together plated with two simple or composed accompaniments.

One of them had to include sweet potatoes and the other could be a garnish of the contestant’s choice.

For the regional final, competitors will have two and a half hours to cook their dish, along with a dessert from a mystery box of ingredients given to them on the day.

The judges will be looking for recipes and methods which demonstrate the best balance of 'creativity, taste, style and practicality' in the finished dish.

One of the judges, Brian Turner CBE, added: “I suspect that many competitors didn’t have much experience matching sweet potato with pork and crackling, and it seemed that it threw a few people off, however the attempts were great.

"And it is great to see so many chefs representing restaurants from across the country.”