A former student chef at ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ has wowed TV judges to reach the Knockout Week in the latest series of BBC show .
Monty Stonehewer, who studied Level 3 Professional Cookery at UCB two years ago, will appear among the final 12 chefs in the competition next week after battling through the heats and quarter-finals.
The 22-year-old, who is a junior sous chef at the Michelin-starred Hampton Manor in Solihull, first had to pass a 20 minute skills test set by chef Monica Galetti, producing a braised artichoke with saffron aquafaba mayonnaise.
He went on to receive glowing reviews from Monica and fellow judges Gregg Wallace and Marcus Wareing for his lamb signature dish, sweeping straight through to the quarter-final stage.
In the next round, Monty had to get creative in an invention test centred on using squash, which he incorporated into a dish of pan-fried lemon sole.
He then served up two dishes for the show's trio of critics - Jimi Famurewa, Jay Rayner and Tracey MacLeod - impressing them with his pan-fried turbot main course as well as his brown butter sponge dessert infused with chocolate and orange, inspired by one of his favourite childhood Christmas treats.
