Ruth Hansom has completed a spectacular week for The Ritz today as she was crowned the Young National Chef of the Year 2017 just 24 hours after the team received a star in this year's Michelin Guide UK.

Ruth is the first female to win Young National Chef of the Year, a competition which has kick-started the careers of many of today’s industry stars. It was closely fought with a high standard of entries from all the young chefs and second place was awarded to April Lily Partridge of The Clove Club and in third was Danny Young from Northcote. 

Ruth said: “I can’t put into words how amazing it feels, I’m so happy to have won. I’ve come second in the past and knew that I really wanted to win this year.”

Young National Chef of the Year Ambassador, Mark Sargeant added: “Today’s competition was incredibly close, especially between the top three but Ruth really stood out with all her dishes. The advice we gave the young chefs was to create a dish that’s simple, flavoursome and well-presented and that’s exactly what we saw from her. It’s absolutely fantastic to have our first ever female Young National Chef of the Year.”

He continued “I couldn’t be any prouder of what all ten finalists did today. They were confident, calm and we saw some fantastic culinary skills demonstrated by chefs who are so early into their careers. It’s always great to follow these chefs through their careers and I’ve got no doubt that in a few years’ time some of these chefs are going to be competing on the senior stage.”

All of the finalists and winners celebrated their achievements in a ceremony at The Restaurant Show on Tuesday 4^th October, with judges and sponsors on hand to offer their congratulations.

>>> Find out more about Ruth here