Cooking the sort of dishes Gordon Ramsay would be proud of, Sutton has named 16-year-old Matthew Thain its Junior Master Chef Champion 2008. 

The students battling it out in the grand final on Friday 28th March were Jake South from Wilson’s, Matthew Thain from Wandle Valley, Yuri Ichinose from Nonsuch High School and Anju Jacob from Wallington girls.

The budding chefs had a £10 budget to prepare a two course meal within a one hour and a half hour time period. Contestants were judged on quality of end product, food preparation skills, food hygiene, the nutritional value of meals and presentation skills.

Judging the dishes were Dr Peter Simpson, Executive Head of School Improvement for Sutton, Miranda French, Head of Portfolio Recruitment and Greg Brown, Director for Culinary Development at Marriott Hotels.

Dr Peter Simpson said: ‘’Matthew was a worthy winner but the cooking skills on show by all four finalists were outstanding. The complexity and quality of the dishes was superb. They showed good cooking can also be healthy cooking. Sutton can be proud of its young cooks and what they achieved today. It was a testament to their hard work and determination.’’  

The winner cooked a pea and watercress soup as a starter, garnished with a toasted parmesan French bread crouton, crispy Alsace bacon and fresh watercress. He followed it up with a Osso bucco of Monk Fish, served on spinach and potato confit, laced with a fois gras butter sauce as his main dish.

A Nintendo Wii was presented to the winner by Ekow Amha, the National Healthy Schools Coordinator.  All four finalists will also attend the filming of Celebrity Ready Steady Cook on the 1st April.

For further information and pictures of the event please contact Katherine Riviere at Sutton Press Office on 0208 770 5606.