MasterChef: The Professionals 2012 winner Anton Piotrowski has left The Treby Arms in Plympton, Devon to open his first solo venture, Brown and Bean in Plymouth.

Anton who won MasterChef in 2012, and his team at The Treby Arms were awarded a Michelin star in the Michelin Guide UK in 2015 and have continued to retain it but Anton says it’s now time for him to move on.

He told The Staff Canteen: “There’s no animosity it’s just come to an end, I’ve done my thing and within a pub I couldn’t express what I wanted to do because sometimes you are bound by the culture of the pub industry.

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“I’m getting older and I just wanted to cook something which was new and fresh in a restaurant with less covers.”

He added: “Seven years of working at The Treby has been amazing, I’ve lived my dreams winning MasterChef there and achieving a Michelin star. It’s really hard to walk away from all of it but sometimes you have to do what you believe in. I’d like to thank all the customers who have supported me at The Treby over the years as well.

“It might be a mistake doing this but if I don’t do it now, in five years I’ll be 40 years old and I want to do something I really believe in."

Anton’s new restaurant Brown and Bean is situated on Ebrington Street and will officially open on Wednesday, March 8 2017. The evening tasting menu with snacks will consist of ‘a taste from the chef’ and ‘a taste from the garden’, so it will change dramatically as the seasons change. The lunch menu will be a la carte.

“It’s about cooking again,” explained Anton. “Sometimes when you have big ventures and big things going on you don’t actually do what you are supposed to – which for me was cooking. With MasterChef and the Michelin star you find yourself out of the kitchen rather than in it. I’ve missed that over the years because I actually like being behind the stove cooking.”

One of the new restaurant’s partners who will be looking after the front of house is Ben McBean, a former Royal Marine and Afghan Veteran who was only 20 when he was badly injured in a landmine blast while serving in Afghanistan, tragically losing his left and right leg. He was expected to die on the flight home and hailed as a hero by Prince Harry 2008.

Anton added: “It’s something different for Plymouth, I don’t think anyone else does what we are hoping to do. I’m excited to be cooking, seeing suppliers I’ve not seen for a few years and we are closed Monday and Tuesday so we can go out and forage a lot of our own ingredients.”