Master Chef 2024

The Final of our Master Chef competition, funded by Williamson’s Food Service, took place at the UHI Inverness Campus on the evening of Wednesday 6^th November. 

Four students, Caspian Kingham and Charlie Inglis from Inverness Royal Academy, Jasper Thomas from Fortrose Academy and Milan Matheson from Inverness High School, took part in the Final and each cooked a two-course meal for the judges, Lady Claire Macdonald, Kinloch Lodge Hotel in Skye and Sean Kelly from the Lovat Hotel at Fort Augustus. 

The food was served to the judges in front of a large audience in the UHI lecture theatre.  After tasting the dishes the judges spent some time conferring before deciding on a winner.  Both Lady Claire and Sean Kelly remarked how high the standard of cooking was and how difficult it had been to arrive at a winner – there being only 6 points between the four students. 

This year’s winner is Charlie Inglis who now has the opportunity to enter into the UK Rotary Young Chef competition at the North of Scotland Final stage.  We wish her all the best.  If she is successful in winning the Young Chef competition she will be awarded a few days in Tuscany, Italy, to learn from some top chefs there.   

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The first of four semi-finalists, Charlie Inglis, spent a day in the Kingsmills Hotel kitchen, where she prepared food, helped with the lunch service and the cooked a two-course meal for two judges in the evening. A busy day, but she said that she loved it. The meal she cooked was very good and she is now looking forward to the Final on 6th November, in the UHI campus.

The second of four semi-finalists, Jasper Thomas, spent a day in Cafe1 where he was given a number of tasks to complete by the chef and then he cooked a two-course meal for two judges in the evening.  Jasper thoroughly enjoyed his restaurant experience and the meal he cooked was given a high score by the judges.  He is now looking forward to the Final on 6^th November, in the UHI campus(see Semi-finals on right).

The third Master Chef semi-final took place in The Whitehouse Restaurant on Monday 28^th October.  Milan Matheson from Inverness High School spent the day there with chef Lynsey Horne, and cooked a two-course meal for chef George MacKay in the evening.  George thought the meal was very nice and wished Milan good luck in the Final.  Milan said that he thoroughly enjoyed his day’s experience in the restaurant and had learnt a lot.

The fourth Master Chef semi-final took place on Thursday 31^st October in La Tortilla Asesina. Caspian Kingham, from Inverness Royal Academy, spent a day in the kitchen and then cooked two courses in the evening for chef Ken Loades from the Ghillies Kitchen. Ken thought that she had done an excellent job and wished her well in the Final.

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Round 2 of the Master Chef competition took place in Charleston Academy on Wednesday 9^th October when the seven Round 1 winners – one from each school taking part in the competition – and the best scoring runner-up overall cooked off against each other for a place in the semi-finals. 

The judge, George MacKay, was very impressed by the high standard of the dishes served to him and had a difficult task to choose 4 students for the semi-finals. 

He eventually selected Milan Matheson from Inverness High School, Caspian Kingham and Charlie Inglis from Inverness Royal Academy and Jasper Thomas from Fortrose Academy. 

These 4 students will now spend a day in a local restaurant, helping with the lunch service, and then cook a two-course meal for two judges in the evening. 

The score they receive will form 20% of their overall mark – the other 80% being their mark in the competition Final which will take place in the UHI on Wednesday 6^th November. (see Round 2 on right)

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Our Master Chef Competition started on Wednesday the 18th of September in Fortrose Academy (see Fortrose Academy to right).

The Charleston Academy round of our Master Chef Competition took place on Friday 20^th September (see Charleston Academy to right).

The Inverness High School Master Chef Competition round took place on Monday 23rd September (see Inverness High School to right).

Nairn Academy held their Master Chef Competition on Monday 23rd September (see Nairn Academy to right).

Millburn Academy Master Chef Competition took place on Wednesday 25th September (see Millburn Academy right).

Dingwall Academy held their Master Chef Competition on Wednesday 25th September (see Dingwall Academy right).

Inverness Royal Academy Master Chef Competition took place on Monday 30th September (see Inverness Royal Academy right).