MasterChef: The Professionals finalist Louisa Ellis to join Restaurant Sat Bains in Nottingham
MasterChef: The Professionals 2017 finalist Louisa Ellis has announced that she will join two Michelin starred Restaurant Sat Bains as chef de partie.
Louisa will start in her new role as chef de partie at Restaurant Sat Bains on Wednesday, March 7. She reached the final three in this year’s MasterChef: The Professionals competition, but was beaten to first place by Craig Johnston from Royal Oak Paley Street.
Originally from Luton, Louisa trained for an NVQ at Barnfield College. She then went on to work at a couple of hotels, before joining the team at Adam's restaurant in Bimingham in 2016. In March 2017, she started working at The Wilderness, a fine dining restaurant in Dudley Street, Birmingham, and worked her way up to become junior sous chef there before her appearance on MasterChef: The Professionals.
On the show, she caught the attention of the public, and of chef judges Monica Galetti and Marcus Wareing. Monica told Louisa: “Wherever you’re working now, they can count themselves damn lucky to have you in that kitchen.” Fellow judge added: “It’s been a pleasure watching you cook.”
.@MGaletti01 and @marcuswareing's words about Louisa are giving us all the feels. ????????
— MasterChef UK ???? (@MasterChefUK) December 21, 2017#MasterChefUK pic.twitter.com/fCVC2Eja64
After her appearance on the show, Louisa completed a week's stage at Sat Bains' two Michelin starred Nottingham restaurant. At the end of the week, Sat and head chef, John Freeman asked her to cook them two courses using the food in the building. Impressed by her skills, they called her into the office on the last day and offered her a job at the restaurant.
Despite receiving other job offers, including one from Le Manoir, Louisa decided to accept the position at Restaurant Sat Bains. She said:
"I really wanted to concentrate more on fine dining and being creative and I think I can do that at Restaurant Sat Bains. I'm moving to Nottingham next week, all by myself! It's going to be hard but I'm looking forward to it and I'm willing to put a lot of effort in."
Since Louisa left The Wilderness in January 2018, she has cooked for a pop up at Rotunda in Birmingham, eight covers in a penthouse suite with her own menu, and one at her former workplace, Adams, with fellow MasterChef contestants. Prior to starting in her new role, Louisa will be cooking at a sold-out 80 cover pop up with another fellow MasterChef: The Professionals 2017 contestant, Leo Kattou, on Monday, 26 February.
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