Ben Miller wins SPYCA Competition 2024-25 UK Final

The Canadian, who cooks with Alex Dilling in London, is the winner of the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition 2024-25 Regional Final.

Ben Miller, the young chef (pictured centre) from Canada who currently cooks at restaurant Alex Dilling at Hotel Café Royal in London, has won the UK Regional Final of S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition 2024-25, the world’s most exciting culinary talent search.

Miller, supported by mentor Pierre Minotti, impressed the Local Jury of chefs Santiago Lastra, Nokx Majozi, Lorna McNee, and Adam Smith with his signature dish, Ode to Sam Yee, at a cook off with eight other young hopefuls at Le Cordon Bleu in London. The dish consists of crown roasted duck breast with Szechuan Jus and garlic choi sum, confit leg rice under brown butter sabayon, with a foie gras ‘siu mai’ in an Alsace bacon consommé. The dish was paired with MingCha Jasmine Blossom Tea.

Miller will now get the chance to cook again when he faces off against 14 other regional winners from around the world at the competition Grand Finale in Milan in 2025.

Speaking after his win had been announced at an awards ceremony at London’s NoMad hotel, Miller said: “It feels like I'm a small-town kid competing on the world stage. This is the biggest competition for chefs under 30. To win the award is a huge honor.”

Miller also picked up the Acqua Panna Connection in Gastronomy Award—a collateral prize of the competition—for a second time, having won it for Canada at the last edition. The award, voted for by the mentors, is given for a dish that represents the culinary heritage of the region the chef is representing, highlighting both traditional culinary practices and the chef’s modern vision, and providing a connection between the past and the future. 

“For me, that's like the chefs’ chef award, it's a mentor award, that's the one that the chefs respect the most. Having won this one in the past in Canada, and having won it a second time here in London is unbelievable and a privilege,” said Miller.

Two additional collateral awards were also announced on the night.

The S.Pellegrino Social Responsibility Award, voted for by the Sustainable Restaurant Association and awarded for the dish that best exemplifies sustainable practices was won by Sude Hancher for her dish, Cauliflower and Halibut. Hancher described the competition as an “amazing experience.”

The Fine Dining Lovers Food for Thought Award meanwhile was won by “overwhelmed” young chef Kurtus Auty for his dish, Courgette Dive. The prize, voted for by Fine Dining Lovers readers and the public at large, is given to the chef who best represents their personal beliefs with their signature dish.

The global winners of the collateral awards will also be announced at the competition Grand Finale in 2025.

The Forum

After an exciting day of cooking at Le Cordon Bleu, the competing young chefs sat down for a special discussion, The Forum, with a panel featuring the Local Jury and the competition compere, chef, author, and TV star Sabrina Ghayour-Lynn.

Presented by the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy and moderated by FDL/Academy Managing Editor, Tom Jenkins, the title of The Forum was Create Your Future, the aim being to inspire the young chefs present to bring their best every day and create the kind of future they want to see for themselves and for the industry.

Guests were treated to a preview of the S.Pellegrino documentary Afuera Hay Más—A Young Chef’s Journey, themes from which, including identity, work environments, and teamwork, formed the basis of the discussion. The documentary follows the journey of growth and discovery undertaken by S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition 2022-23 winner Nelson Freitas in Peru under the mentorship of Virgilio Martínez of Lima’s Central restaurant.

McNee, of Glasgow’s Cail Bruich restaurant, urged the young chefs present to “travel more, get to more places, work in more restaurants” in order to discover their authentic selves as chefs. Smith, of Woven by Adam Smith at Coworth Park, admitted that it had taken a long time for him to “create an identity” for his restaurant and his food, while Lastra, of London’s Kol and echoing Martinez’s admissions in the film, candidly shared that he “didn’t have enough experience or knowledge” when he opened his restaurant (it now has one Michelin star and sits at 17 on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list).

Speaking about work environments, Majozi, from Holborn Dining Room and The Pie Room, revealed how her kitchens were firm but fair and based on mutual respect, whatever your position, adding: “When [people] are happy, they’re more willing to help. It’s two way.”

“It’s about creating an environment where people feel they want to be,” added Smith.

After finding out what makes the Central team in a clip from the film, the panel had a lot to say on collaboration, with Ghayour-Lynn conceding: “You’re not going to succeed or take things to the next level without other people, in any field of life. That’s what smart people know. It took me a long time to realize that because I’m a control freak.”

Lastra spoke about a moment of enlightenment when he opened Kol and started working in a collaborative way, rather than largely solo in his test kitchen, as he had been.

“The incredible thing when you work with a team is that if they believe in the idea, everything changes. Suddenly, the team can make it better, because the cooks have their own craft. If you have a mentality of, as a team, [that] people can add their own touches, then the dish can evolve.”