Martin Carabott won the Roux Scholarship in March 2018, at the age of 29. It was his third time in the finals.

Just before taking part in the 2018 competition, Martin started as senior sous chef at Ollie Dabbous’ restaurant Hide, which launched in April 2018 and gained its first Michelin star in the 2019 guide. Hide is set over three levels – fine dining restaurant Above, Casual Dining at Ground and a bar named Below. In spring 2021, Martin was promoted to Head Chef at Above, having been Senior Sous Chef at Ground. Prior to this, Martin worked at Luca and the Royal Automobile Club, as senior sous chef in both establishments, as well as at the Michelin-starred Apsley’s restaurant, under Heinz Beck, in the Lanesborough Hotel.

Martin – who is originally from Malta – is no stranger to competitions and was a finalist in the 2016 Craft Guild of Chefs National Chef of the Year competition, having won the British Culinary Federation Chef of the Year earlier that year. In May 2014 he was awarded the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts Annual Award of Excellence, and in May 2013 he was named winner of the Club Secretaries and Managers Association Award for Culinary Excellence.