Great British Menu 2023 chefs: Avinash Shashidhara, London and South East Heat
Great British Menu 2023 chefs: Ferdinand Montoya, London and South East Heat
Great British Menu 2023 chefs: Brian Danclair, London and South East
Great British Menu 2023 chefs: Robbie Lorraine, London and South East Heat
Great British Menu 2023 chefs: Ferdinand Montoya, London and South East Heat
Ferdinand Montoya, founder OF sarap restaurant, is one of four chefs competing for London and South East region on Great British Menu 2023.
Series 18 of the competition starts on January 31 2023 on BBC Two at 8pm and will air for eight weeks.
Ferdinand is going head to head with chefs Brian Danclair, Avinash ‘Avi’ Shashidhara, Robbie Lorraine in a bid to represent London and the South East in the regional finals, and ultimately cook a dish at the final banquet.
This is Ferdinand's first time competing in Great British Menu.
Biography
Full name
Ferdinand Montoya
Nickname
Budgie, real name is Ferdinand Montoya
Age/DOB
40 - 11/09/1982
Place of birth / residence
Davao City, Philippines / London
Relationship status / children
Married / no children
Height
1.78 m or 5 ft 9
Type of chef (restaurant, hotel, development chef, etc.)
Restaurant
Favourite type of cuisine
Filipino/indonesian/chinese/Italian don't make me chose.
Path to becoming a chef
Started cooking professionally when I moved to London from Sydney in 2012. Prior to that I was in I.T/Telco Sales.
Past and present place of work
Previous Dean St Townhouse 2012 Restaurant Story 2013 Soho House Group (multiple sites) 2014 -2016 Flat 3 2016 Foleys 2018
Current Sarap (started in 2017 as a supperclub and then pursued it full time from late 2018. Just finished 14 month pop up at 10 Heddon St, London)
Personal and professional mentors / role models
Professonal Mentors Joe Hill Role Models Jordy Navarra - Toyo Eatery Nicole Ponseca Jeremy Chan - ikoyi
Guilty pleasure dish
Chicken joy and Filipinos spaghetti from Jollibee and a very close second would be Double sausage and egg mcmuffin and 2 x hash browns from maccers (unless it's Aussie Maccers in which casenit would be number 1 cos they use beef sausage patties)
Best / worst thing about being a chef
The comradery, the opportunity to bring a positive experience to our guests everyday, the creativity and for me personally the way it has helped me come to terms with my identity.
The toxic energy that glorifies being overworked and underplayed, thankfully this is becoming a thing of the past.
Feelings stepping onto the GBM set
A sense of pride and great achievement and simultaneously bricking it and immediate feelings of imposter sydnrome
Plans for the future
Opening a permanent site for Sarap this year
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Great British Menu 2023 chefs: Ferdinand Montoya, London and South East Heat
Great British Menu 2023 chefs: Avinash Shashidhara, London and South East Heat
Great British Menu 2023 chefs: Brian Danclair, London and South East
Great British Menu 2023 chefs: Robbie Lorraine, London and South East Heat
Great British Menu 2023 chefs: Ferdinand Montoya, London and South East Heat
