Rosie Maguire, Higher Ground
Rosie Maguire is a chef on the up and up. A graduate in culinary arts at the University of Derby, her early career included stints at Loch Lomond Golf Club and Simon Martin’s Michelin-starred Mana in Manchester. It was from there that she joined Higher Ground as chef de partie on the grill section. As part of learning the butchery programme within the restaurant, she took on an extra-curricular project called ‘The Dexter Project’, which involves studying and recording the Dexter breed of cows used in the restaurant. She then progressed to sous chef before taking on the full-time role of head chef within two years of joining. Her rise has been impressive and rightly saw her recognised as a Rising Star by the National Restaurant Awards earlier this year. Expect plenty more from this chef to watch in the years to come.
Sam Lomas, Briar
Sam Lomas is a chef brimming with determination. He came up with his first restaurant concept, The Diced Carrot, in his bedroom at the age of nine and now, some 20 years later, he has taken on the former Osip site in Bruton for his first true solo restaurant. Called Briar, the restaurant is a partnership between Lomas and husband-and-wife team Claudia and Aled Rees, owners of Number One Bruton, and celebrates hyper-local produce, foraged ingredients and is dictated by the growing seasons of the kitchen garden. It marks an impressive debut from Lomas, who is a former River Cottage ‘Rising Star’ and Roux Scholarship finalist, and previously worked as head chef at Glebe House, an agritourism-inspired guest house and restaurant in Devon.
Tom Hamblet, Lainston House
Having won MasterChef: The Professionals at the age of 24, Tom Hamblet is undoubtedly a talent to watch. Hamblet started cooking at South Lodge alongside his chef father Lewis when he was just 14, and is now leading Lainston House’s flagship restaurant The Avenue following an extensive refurbishment and relaunch late last year. The appointment came after a series of successful residences and sees the chef serving a menu of contemporary, refined dishes that showcase his ‘commitment to using the finest produce’. Since taking on the new role, Hamblet has been making waves with The Telegraph‘s restaurant critic recently describing his food as ‘truly remarkable’.
Kelly Cullen, Cornus
Part of the opening team at Cornus, the newly Michelin-starred Belgravia restaurant launched last year by the duo behind Chelsea stalwart Medlar, pastry chef Kelly Cullen is proving herself to be one of the brightest up and coming chef talents in the London restaurant scene. Building on the skills she has honed across her impressive career to date, which includes stints at Claridge’s, Cornerstone and Allegra, Cullen has created a selection of dishes for the restaurant that play on feelings of nostalgia with the addition of superb seasonal produces. A perfect example is her vanilla custard tart with solliès figs and fig leaf ice cream, which has become something of a signature dessert.
Aaron Potter, Wildflowers
You don’t need us to tell you how impressive a chef Aaron Potter is. Last year he launched Wildflowers, a relaxed Mediterranean-inspired restaurant in Belgravia, which marked his first solo venture. The opening followed a career that included senior roles at the Michelin-starred Trinity and Elystan Street, and the highly regarded chefs behind those two London stalwarts - Adam Byatt and Phil Howard - both have very nice things to say about Potter, with the latter describing him as a ‘truly great craftsman’. It seems that there are many that agree, with Wildflowers receiving a succession of glowing reviews following its launch and proving Potter to be a chef well worthy of being on our radar.
Erin Jackson Yates, Bar Valette
Now in charge of the kitchen at Isaac McHale’s newly opened Bar Valette in Shoreditch, Erin Jackson Yates has worked in top restaurants across the world including Moor Hall in Lancashire, Josh Niland’s fish restaurant Saint Peter in Sydney, and The Clove Club, where she met McHale. Even more recently, Jackson Yates was named as one of six finalists in the prestigious Roux Scholarship 2025 cooking competition. With her strong fine dining culinary background and now gaining experience in opening a restaurant, Jackson Yates looks set to one day have a place of her own.
Helen Graham
Having stepped away from her role as executive chef of meat-free Middle Eastern restaurant Bubala last year, Helen Graham is now pursuing a variety of exciting solo projects that, as she puts it, are about ‘giving vegetables main character energy’. It marks an evolution of the work she started at Bubala, where she worked for five years alongside founder Marc Summers, with Graham part of a growing cohort of chefs who are ditching the preachiness often associated with veg-forward cooking and creating a new language for plant-based cuisine that’s creative, innovative and, crucially, delicious.
Conor Dalton, Skof
Having started in kitchens when he was still a teenager, Conor Dalton is no stranger to working in Michelin-starred kitchens and has worked in them for much of his career. He first came to the attention of former Simon Rogan lieutenant Tom Barnes when he joined the brigade at Henrock, and subsequently worked alongside Barnes and Rogan at L’Enclume, during which time it picked up its third Michelin star. As such, it was a no brainer for Barnes to bring Dalton in to lead the kitchen at his own restaurant Skof, which launched last year in Manchester’s Noma district. Fittingly, the restaurant won its first Michelin star in this year’s Guide.
Henry Dobson, Moss
Adding to Edinburgh’s already impressive culinary landscape, Henry Dobson opened his ambitious but casual farm-to-table restaurant Moss earlier this year in the city’s Stockbridge neighbourhood. It’s an exciting opening from a rising talent whose CV includes a four-month stint at René Redzepi’s world famous Copenhagen restaurant Noma. Having cut his teeth attending Ballymaloe Cookery School, Moss’ CV also features time spent at a number of top restaurants in Japan including Maz and Kabi. All those experiences have coalesced into the menu for Moss, which features an impressively creative menu made using produce sourced from his own family farm near Dundee and a select group of artisan suppliers.
The Chef to Watch award is sponsored by high-quality ingredient supplier Belazu. The winner will be announced at The National Restaurant Awards on 9 June.