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24/10/2014 0 Comments

Nature's Wild Pantry

Words: Mat Follas | Images: Jonathan Cherry
The Guardian / Enterprise open road

24 October 2014

The lanes, beaches and fishing ports of west Dorset provide rich pickings for our foraging friends. Click here to launch the story
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A cool, late September morning found me and a couple of friends, fellow chef Dean Edwards and Tam, cooing with delight in front of a blackberry hedge. An exciting day wandering the west Dorset countryside ... click here for more
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20/9/2014 0 Comments

Mat at The MasterChef Restaurant & Bar

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In service at the MasterChef Restaurant & Bar
Mat Follas (Winner 2009), Natalie Coleman (Winner 2013), James Nathan (Winner 2008)

MasterChef Restaurant & Bar, Blue Fin Building, 110 Southwark Street, London SE1 0SU
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11/8/2014 0 Comments

Mat Follas: My taste of Ireland

Mat Follas
theguardian.com
11 August 2014
A leisurely arrival set the tone for Mat Follas’ culinary adventure in west Cork, which saw him forage for sea spaghetti and sample fresh smoked fish
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Mat Follas samples local produce in Cork’s English Market. Photograph: Tom Parker
My easy-going arrival in Cork sets the tone for the rest of my stay in Ireland. It takes all of five minutes to collect my bags and I’m at the desk to get my rental car - I spend longer trying to get my satnav to recognise the town of Ballydavid where I’m staying that night. Heading off I realise how leisurely the traffic is, and during my whole stay in south west Ireland I notice that there are plenty of cyclists exploring the area too. It means you slow down and enjoy everything at a leisurely pace too. The towns, with their multi coloured houses and pubs and shops straight off a tourist postcard are stunning and the rolling countryside just shouts ‘slow down, relax’.

My afternoon tea stop, in Killarney is popular with visitors enjoying horse and cart rides, but I’m totally disarmed when I get out of my car, there is a sincerity and lack of cynicism that I’d normally associate with a tourist location that surprises me, a recurring theme throughout my visit. A fabulous ice cream at Murphy’s Parlour and a chat with one of the cart drivers who poses for a picture sees me away with a smile.
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Dingle, one of the many picturesque towns along the Wild Atlantic Way, is not short on photo opportunities. Photograph: Mat Follas
I drive on to Dingle, and am literally stopped in my tracks by the stunning scenery as I approach the peninsular. It erupts suddenly into a mountainous land and I drive along a stretch of the Wild Atlantic Way - one of the world’s longest coastal driving routes - to Dingle, stopping to take photos and walk on the sandy beaches. It’s a Sunday night and, by the time I arrive at Gorman’s B&B, I am one and a half hours late for their 7pm dinner sitting, however my lateness isn’t mentioned and they offered to cook anything from the menu for me. What a wonderful welcome. I left it up to the chef to choose and she cooked me the best lamb stew I think I’ve ever eaten. Unsurprisingly, they’ve got a well-deserved AA rosette.

In Dingle the next morning, I’m met by Martin Bealin of Global Village Restaurant who generously spent most of the day with me showing me the sights. These include the local brewery where they make Tom Crean’s, a very good Pilsner style beer, then onto the Dingle distillery where they’re making a name for themselves producing an superb gin, originally produced to maintain the cash flow whilst their whiskey was maturing. It’s a few years yet before the whiskey will be ready but if it’s anything like the gin, it’ll be very good indeed. An hour with Maya Binder, a Swiss-trained German cheese maker who produces some wonderful soft farmhouse cheeses is heaven to a cheese lover like me.
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Maya Binder of the Little Cheese Shop. Photograph: Tom Parker
Dinner at Martin’s restaurant that night is exceptional, better than some Michelin starred places I’ve eaten at. A few drinks with the local food fraternity in the pub next door, that also doubles as a hardware store, sees me agreeing to return for their food festival between 3-5 October and his new venture, the Dingle Cookery School.

I didn’t want to leave Dingle, it’s a special place; a town of 1800 with 52 food establishments, amazing producers and a happy, relaxed vibe, I look forward to returning.

The next stop, after an inspiring drive along another stretch of the coast and I’m searching for the famous Woodcock Smokery, winner of numerous awards including several three star awards from the Guild of Fine Foods. I find it, and the owner, the wonderful Sally Barnes, on a rough track in the middle of nowhere and within 20 minutes I know I’ve met a friend, we’re exchanging inappropriate jokes and stories of travels over a mug of builders tea in her kitchen. She’s an amazing lady and her passion for both the products she makes and conservation are an inspiration. It was a delight to learn from her and meet her granddaughter who works there too, her daughter is taking a break to climb mountains for charity, what a family!

A great dinner that night at Mary Anne’s pub in nearby Castletownsend, a really good fish pie and plaice stuffed with crab and leek, they’re packed full on a Tuesday night and I’m pretty sure I only get a table due to the owner loving MasterChef, and having a good memory.


My final day sees me heading into Cork to see the English Market. This is without doubt the best food market I’ve been too in the UK or Ireland. The produce is perfect, the prices are better than I pay wholesale in the UK and the stall holders know their products. The best way to experience the market is to lunch at Kay Harte’s Farmgate Cafe which sits on a balcony above the market watching a constant changing scenery below, all of her produce comes from the market itself and my lunch of smoked and cured Mackerel and Herring and a plate of the best liver and bacon leaves me full and happy for the rest of the day. A night of pure luxury at the wonderful Hayfield Manor in Cork sees me heading home to Dorset the next morning with fond memories and plans to return.
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10/8/2014 0 Comments

Photos - Taste of Ireland

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10/8/2014 0 Comments

Mat Follas' taste of Ireland

The Guardian
09 August 2014
TV chef Mat Follas is well-known for producing hearty meals using foraged ingredients. On a trip to Ireland, he finds the country’s ‘natural larder’ is a rich source of inspiration for kindred wild-food enthusiasts
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Mat Follas enjoying Kinsale’s farmers market. Photograph: Tom Parker
My first taste of Murphy’s honeycomb caramel ice cream, in pretty, bustling Killarney, set the tone for a holiday full of edible revelation. Handmade by Sean and Kieran Murphy using local ingredients, including the milk of the rare Kerry cow, its rich flavour and creamy texture was simply superb. And if those little chunks of honeycomb transported me back to my homeland – where the similar hokey-pokey ice cream is practically a national dish – it was a pleasure to open my eyes and find myself back in south-west Ireland.

I couldn’t resist a second helping when I got to Dingle, where at the original Murphy’s shop I discovered the divine pairing of lemon curd and gin-and-tonic flavoured ice creams – the gin distilled in Dingle, naturally. The sun hadn’t stopped shining since I left Killarney and already I had sand between my toes: driving west along a road sandwiched between mountains and sea, I hadn’t been able to resist parking up at Inch beach and striding along the vast sands.

Dingle has 1,800 residents and 52 places to eat. One of them is Global Village, the award-winning standard bearer for the peninsula’s ever-growing culinary reputation. Its chef-proprietor Martin Bealin took me to visit his favourite shops and suppliers, including Maja Binder’s The Little Cheese Shop. Her handmade Dilliskus, a semi-hard cheese enhanced by the salt and iron of hand-gathered seagrass, bowled me over.

That got us talking about seaweed. And soon I was heading to Dingle harbour with Bealin, a kindred wild-food enthusiast who confessed that his restaurant and soon-to-be-opened Dingle Cookery School didn’t leave him much time for foraging. Against the backdrop of Dingle Bay we scoured the sandy shore for wild plants and sea vegetables. My first taste of sea spaghetti lived up to its name – greeny brown strands that were deliciously al dente – and I did a double take when I spied a great bush of purple vetch thriving on the seashore.

In this sunny corner of Ireland, warmed by the Gulf Stream, the hedgerows sparkle with bright wild fuchsias. Thanks to Bealin, I now know that if you squeeze these edible flowers you can eke out the clear, honey-sweet nectar known in Ireland as “God’s tears”. On Bealin’s tasting menu that night, a single fuchsia flower balanced perfectly the sweetness of a fresh-from-the-boat turbot fillet. And there was another familiar flavour on the plate: our own foraged sea beet leaves, fried in tempura batter.
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Gourmet food from ‘nature’s larder’ at Global Village. Photograph: Tom Parker
Bealin and his fellow chefs have access to an enviable natural larder: seashore plants, Atlantic seafood, meat slowly reared on the lush grasses. But the other crucial ingredient of Cork and Kerry’s rich food culture is an old-fashioned way of doing things: not because it’s now lucrative to be “local” or “artisan”, but because that’s the way they’ve always done it.

Sally Barnes, of the Woodcock Smokery in Castletownshend, epitomises this approach. A leading light of Ireland’s slow-food movement – which, as an alternative to fast food, aims to promote local, sustainable produce – Barnes uses only wild fish and does everything, from pin-boning to salting and slicing, by hand. The resulting smoked salmon, infused with the scent of smouldering native hardwoods, is exceptional. My diversion to meet her not only justified resting my bones at the glorious Liss Ard country estate, but also took me via Cork’s stunning south-western coastline – and I resolved to come back on my motorbike to ride the Wild Atlantic Way.

Food producers such as Barnes, who is passing on her skills to her daughter and granddaughter, are the lifeblood of Cork’s celebrated food towns. Bright and boaty Kinsale, for example, has its Good Food Circle restaurants (and many more great eateries besides), but its brightest jewel is the weekly farmers’ market. There, among the mutton pies and sourdough breads, I made a beeline for the two expatriate Italian chefs cutting fresh beetroot and rocket tagliatelle from their handmade dough.

Thirty miles north, in Cork city, I marvelled at the most impressive covered food market I’ve seen in the northern hemisphere. The English Market has been operating since 1788, and what struck me about it, aside from the sheer quality of its local produce, was that it is a real, honest market where workers call in at the end of the day to buy their dinner. At the hub of it all is Kay Harte of the Farmgate Café, whose menu is based exclusively on market produce. She cooked me a perfect plate of sliced lamb’s liver and bacon, but not before I’d squeezed in an appetiser of smoked and pickled fish from Pat O’Connell. He is the fish merchant who reduced the Queen to hoots of delight during the royal visit of 2011. It was a mother-in-law joke that set her off, he said. But I’m sure that the sights, smells and flavours of this bountiful Irish market must have had something to do with it.
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25/7/2014 0 Comments

Mat on the MasterChef Streetfood bus

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22/5/2014 0 Comments

The MasterChef Bus

Lauren Houghton
Big Hospitality
22 May 2014
The MasterChef Bus makes it's first stop at Marble Hill's Foodie Festival
The MasterChef Street Food Bus will be debuting its offering at the Foodie Festival this weekend from 24 to 26 May, with finalists from the TV show serving food from the mobile kitchen.
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Street food is growing in popularity in the UK dining sector and the MasterChef Bus acknowledges this. Past contestants from the TV show will be cooking in the purpose built kitchen while diners can sit upstairs to eat.

After the bus has visited Marble Hill it will continue to follow the Foodie Festival for it's other London celebrations, stopping off in Kenwood House in Hampstead from the 30 May to 1 June and then in Clapham Common from the 6 June to 8 June.

The Bus
The MasterChef Bus was unveiled yesterday morning (21 May) at Marble Hill House. Winner of MasterChef 2009 Mat Follas and ...
... 2011 finalist Jackie Kearney were there for the reveal, and will be among the ex-MasterChef competitors cooking on the bus at the Foodie Festival this weekend. Diners will be able to eat on the top deck of the bus and the chefs are supporting local suppliers and seasonal produce.

The bus will be offering street food dishes including Smoky Chicken Burger served with salad and yuzu chilli sauce, and Singapore Softie (a deep fried soft shell crab with aubergine, green bean and cauliflower on egg noodles with spicy chilli crab bacon, American cheese, pickled veggie ribbons and gochujang burger sauce and salad, all served in a crusty roll), as well as sweets like lemon & lavender ice cream.

Exhibition Director Sue Hitchen said: "We are delighted that MasterChef chose our festival for the great reveal. it is a massive coup for us and we are sure it will prove a huge draw this Bank Holiday weekend.

MasterChef will also be running a pop-up Restaurant & Bar in Southwark in London for four weeks this September, where winners and champions from the past ten years will be cooking for the public. The site will be able to seat 130 people, and reservations open in three days' time.
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23/4/2014 0 Comments

7 Chefs Dinner at The Exeter Food Festival

Michael Caines hosts the annual '7 Chefs Dinner' to herald the start of the Exeter Food Festival.
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Getting in the mood ... (from left to right) Dez Turland (Group Development Chef for Brend Hotels), Matt Mason (Jack in the Green), Mo Bowen (Director, Boulter Bowen WealthCare), Ian Webber (Head Chef at Gidleigh Park), Michael Caines, Angus McCaig (The Holt in Honiton), Simon Boulter (Director, Boulter Bowen WealthCare, Neil Haydock (Executive Chef at Watergate Bay), and Mat Follas (Mat Follas at The Casterbridge)
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7/4/2014 0 Comments

Mat's a master at foraging for treats

Samantha Harman
Dorset Echo
7 April 2014

A MASTERCHEF is cooking up a storm in Dorchester.
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Mat Follas opened his much-anticipated restaurant at the Casterbridge Hotel last month.

It is a small intimate setting open on Friday and Saturday nights.

Mat said: “When I was looking for a new venue I narrowed my options down to Dorchester or Bridport — I decided Dorchester was the better option, because it has a larger population and is more central. I’m also excited to be working in Dorchester, which is a really nice location to be in. I think it’s already very well served with the likes of Russell Brown at Sienna up the road and all the other restaurants, so I’m really pleased to become a part of the mix here.”

Known for his foraging skills, Mat said this new venture has allowed him to source local great ingredients by foraging. “Dorset is probably the best place to find wild ingredients. Everything is here, particularly this end of Dorset. It’s something I really like doing, and one of the reasons I wanted a small venture, as it means I can actually go and forage ingredients for the restaurant and serve them.”

He added: “The nice thing about it is I’ll only be serving about 40 people per week, and ...
they’re not all going to be eating the same thing. So if I’m picking something for one dish, I might only need to pick 15 or 20 leaves, and that doesn’t have an impact on the environment.”

Earlier this year Mat wrote an introduction for the AA Restaurant Guide, focusing on food trends and specifically foraged and wild ingredients.

Mat’s offerings will also include daily catches of fish and other locally sourced ingredients. He is also using interesting plants such as Hairy Bittercress but promises that although it doesn’t sound appetising, it is neither hairy nor bitter.

The three-course menu is £27.50 and a six-course tasting menu is priced at £47.50. The menu is predicted to change with the seasonal ingredients.

This month it includes a main course of rabbit ravioli parcels while other dishes include a slow cooked lamb terrine and a dessert of rhubarb and whisky crumble. Mat said: “It depends on what I find when I go for a walk at the start of the week. If there’s something exciting, I can tweak the menu and change it to something different, which is great.”
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27/3/2014 0 Comments

Where are they now? John Torode and Gregg Wallace welcome back MasterChef Champions

Sarah Barns
Daily Express
25 March 2014

MASTERCHEF celebrates its 10th birthday on Wednesday night and to mark the occasion judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace have welcomed back champions from previous series to see what they’re up to now…
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John Torode and Gregg Wallace welcome back prolific champions and finalists from the past 10 years.
MasterChef has welcomed 850 eager amateur cooks through its kitchen doors in the past nine years.

And the judges, celebrity chef John Torode and former greengrocer Gregg Wallace, have been lucky enough to sample more than 10,000 plates of food.

The much-loved BBC1 show returns to our television screens tonight with a feast of culinary delights in celebration of its 10th birthday since the new format was launched.

Hundreds of home cooks auditioned, keen to take part in such a landmark series, but they have been whittled down to 60.

This series promises to push the contestants further than ever before.

Challenges include cooking for the cast and crew of EastEnders, creating a feast for the country’s most renowned historians and devising a sumptuous meal out of rubbish scraps.

Those who know how hot it really gets in the kitchen are the former MasterChef winners and finalists.

Gregg and John have remained tight-lipped ...
... on their favourite champion, saying: “That’s impossible, all our winners stand out. We couldn’t name just one!”

They have all reunited to reveal what they’re up to now, and how having a buttery biscuit base, expert chopping skills and creating original flavours helped change their lives…



Shown in top picture:

Left to right (standing): Thomasina Miers (2005 Champion), Jonny Stevenson (2008 Finalist), Hannah Miles (2007 Finalist), Mat Follas (2009 Champion), Andy Oliver (2009 Finalist), Tim Anderson (2011 Champion), Sara Danesin Medio (2011 Finalist), Tom Whittaker (2011 Finalist), Jackie Kearney (2011 Semi Finalist),  Andrew Kojima (2012 Finalist), Shelina Permalloo (2012 Champion) and Dale Williams (2013 Finalist).

Left to right (sitting): Peter Bayless (2006 Champion),  James Nathan (2008 Champion),  Dean Edwards (floor, 2006 Finalist), Daksha Mistry (2006 Finalist), Chris Gates (2009 Finalist), Dhruv Baker (2010 Champion), John Torode (standing, Judge), Gregg Wallace (standing, Judge), Alex Rushmer (2010 Finalist), Tim Kinnaird (2010 Finalist), Natalie Coleman (2013 Champion), Tom Reynolds (2012 Finalist), Larkin Cen (2013 Finalist).
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MasterChef winners Thomasina Miers and Peter Bayless
Thomasina Miers
Series One Champion, 2005

After storming to victory in series one, Thomasina went on to open Mexican food chain Wahaca, star in her own Channel 4 show, write food columns for The Times and Country Life, and produce five cookbooks.

“MasterChef put me on an incredible journey of discovery,” the 37 year old says. “John and Gregg, and winning, made me think completely differently about myself. They gave me hope when I was floundering.”

Thomasina, who lives in London with her husband and two children, plans to open a new restaurant in July and is launching a London festival, Chilli Chilli Bang Bang, in May to coincide with a new recipe book, Chilli Notes.

Her tip for winning? “Be inspired. If you are inspired by the food you eat and read about, then the food that you cook will be imbued with that inspiration and will excite others.”
Peter Bayless
Series Two Champion, 2006

Peter bagged a short-term chef job with Michel Roux Jr at Michelin-starred Le Gavroche after winning series two.

He then worked in a country house hotel kitchen as he felt he needed to get “experience of working in a pro environment".

The 67 year old, from East Sussex, says the show made him do a career U-turn.

“After 40 years in advertising, I’ve now been a chef for the last nine years,” he says. “The programme always promises to change people’s lives and of course that’s exactly what it did.”

Peter, who has written and published a book, has continued his passion for cooking and plans to be in the kitchen “as long as my feet will carry me”.

“These days I operate as an independent chef, I do private functions, dinner parties, chef’s table evenings, one to one teaching, and teaching at various cooking schools, and I’ve spent a few winters out in France working as a private chef to a large family and their guests.”
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Steven Wallis, James Nathan and Mat Follas scooped the MasterChef top prize
Steven Wallis
Series Three Champion, 2007 

Winning MasterChef gave 41 year old Steven the confidence to pursue a career in food. 

"Winning made me trust my intuition, my creative instinct, and that actually I can cook and I can cook damn well!" he says. 

Steven, who lives in London, now has his own consultancy business called Tastebillion and works as a flavour and creative consultant for global brands and food companies.

He says cooking is his "ultimate passion" and his future plans include opening a restaurant in the South of France. 

James Nathan 
Series Four Champion, 2008

Former lawyer James says his MasterChef victory opened many doors for him - not all of them positive.

“Hand on heart, there’s been some quite dark moments, it’s not a well-paid job, it’s very long hours, very gruelling – but being a criminal barrister you never made anyone happy,” the 40 year old says.

"For me cooking is making people happy.”

James, who is married with one child, has now opened a restaurant in his native Cornwall.

“We’ve got a great restaurant on a site with lots of self-catering Cornish holiday lets, ...
... and we’re about to open a much larger restaurant, and hopefully become a recognised culinary destination in Cornwall. It’s an exciting time.”

In the future James says he hopes to develop a “sushi, oyster and champagne bar”.

Mat Follas
Series Five Champion, 2009

Mat admits bagging the coveted MasterChef champion title was “unexpected” as he was “up against two very good finalists".

A highlight for the 47 year old was cooking at Noma in Denmark, which has been voted the best restaurant in the world.

“It made me realise that my hobby, which was foraging and eating foraged plants and things, was something that actually could be done at a really high level, and taught me an awful lot about it.”

Mat, who lives in Dorset with his wife and three children, went on to open a restaurant in his home town but it closed six months ago.

“It was very successful, we got a couple of AA rosettes and had mentions in the Good Food guide and the Michelin guide. With the economy as it still is in Dorset, keeping a fine dining restaurant going is a real challenge.”

Mat is now opening a small restaurant for weekends only, Mat Follas at The Casterbridge, and he helps out in a café attached to a local prison.
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Dhruv Baker and Tim Anderson won the show in 2010 and 2011 respectively
Dhruv Baker
Series Six Champion, 2010

Mexico-born Dhruv, 37, says winning MasterChef was a life-changing experience.

“The long story short is that I get to cook for a living, which has always been my dream.”

Dhruv, who now lives in London, has started a catering company, finished his first book Spice: Layers of Flavour, writes food articles for magazines and does some brand consultantcy.

“It’s really all the aspects of food that I love and I’ve always wanted to be involved with, and I get to do it as a job, which is amazing!”

His tips for success include staying calm, devising a plan and cooking things you’re confident with.

“Cook the food your friends and family praise you for, not the food you think John and Gregg want you to cook.”
Tim Anderson 
Series Seven Champion, 2011

Tim hasn’t forgotten his MasterChef experience - and wishes he could go back and do it all again.

“I’d love to go back and show John and Gregg what I could do now – I’m so much better, so much better than I was!”

When the show finished 29-year-old Tim, from London, continued cooking and now does it for a living.

“I’ve been doing a lot of pop ups, and different events, some private dining, some recipe development for different companies, and most recently I’ve been finishing my first cook book, which is called Nanban: Japanese Soul Food, and that’s coming out this year.”

Tim says he’d tell the lastest crop of contestants to “have fun, and stay true to what makes you smile and gets you excited".
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Female MasterChef winners include Shelina Permalloo and Natalie Coleman
Shelina Permalloo
Series Eight Champion, 2012

Shelina’s Mauritian puddings were praised by dessert fanatic Gregg, and she used her Caribbean background as inspiration for her first cook book, which launched last July.

“Since winning MasterChef I spent about a year writing, testing and launching my first cook book Sunshine on a Plate, which focuses on modern Mauritian food and includes a lot of traditional recipes that my mum taught me. It was quite nostalgic.”

The 31 year old, who lives in London, now plans to open a restaurant serving Mauritian food.

“That will make me really happy! I also plan to continue writing cookery books, travel and learn more about food and cooking techiniques.”
Natalie Coleman
Series Nine Champion, 2013

Natalie has been lucky enough to work with some of the nation’s best chefs, including Tom Kerridge, Michel Roux Jr and Marcus Wareing, since winning the show.

But as well as working in high-end kitchens, the 30 year old is keen to get kids in her home town of Hackney cooking.

“I run cookery lessons for children in half terms in East London and I’ve also been doing projects with Borough Market and Jamie’s 15, teaching the chefs there. I’ve also just finished my own cookbook, which is due out in October. It’s been busy!”

Natalie says practice makes perfect and she “cooked every meal at least three times before putting them in front of John and Gregg".

She says the key to winning is “cooking food that reflects you as a person, don’t try to be something you’re not!”
MasterChef 10 starts Wednesday at 9pm on BBC One, and continues Thursday at 9pm and Friday at 8.30pm
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