Spencer Metzger has been crowned the winner of the 17th series of the Great British Menu.
After eight weeks of battling against the most talented and skilled chefs from across the UK, the 29-year-old head chef of the Ritz has been named the Great British Menu champion of champions for 2022.
The BBC Two show sees top chefs from various regions compete to produce a menu around a specific theme, and if successful the chef’s dishes are served at a prestigious banquet.
In finals week, Metzger became one of only a few chefs in the history of the competition to win two dishes to serve at the banquet with the theme “100 years of British broadcasting”.
Metzger’s fish course, entitled Be Careful What You Fish For, drew inspiration from Sherlock Holmes and his main course, First Impressions, was based on Pride And Prejudice.
This year’s banquet was held at Alexandra Palace in London and attended by famous faces from all genres of television and radio.
After service, Metzger said the competition had been “one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life”.
During the gruelling finals week – in which the remaining chefs cooked a different dish each day in the hope of securing a course at the banquet – Metzger was up against seven other chefs, including Adam Handling, Olivia Barry and Chris McClurg.
Metzger, from Chigwell in Essex, joined the competition fresh from a promotion to head chef at The Ritz in London.
He first entered the kitchen at the Ritz at the age of 15 for a work experience placement.
He later joined as an apprentice and climbed up through the ranks, also taking in stints at the two Michelin star L’Enclume in Cumbria and three Michelin star Frantzen in Stockholm.
In the judging chamber, special guest judge and soap star Anita Dobson joined Michelin-starred celebrity chef Tom Kerridge, chef and restaurateur Nisha Katona, and comedian and host of the Off Menu podcast, Ed Gamble.
Metzger’s dishes impressed the judging panel, particularly Kerridge who said of his fish course: “This is one of the best dishes I have eaten, anywhere in the world, it is outstanding.”
“I would travel through continents and countries to eat that dish again, it was absolutely stunning.”
In homage to Sherlock Holmes, the dish was served with a recyclable cardboard magnifying glass around the plate and contained a hidden message revealed under UV light.
The banquet guests were blown away by the quality of the dish, with Dame Mary Berry commenting: “The brill was cooked to perfection.”
For Metzger’s main course the hall was set to resemble an 1800s-style banquet to compliment his Pride And Prejudice theme.
During the banquet, Alison Steadman – who played Mrs Bennet in the 1995 BBC adaptation of the Jane Austen novel – called the dish “absolutely beautiful”.
