Brockington, who is the head chef and owner of Gather in Totnes, Devon, won the 2026 Roux Scholarship yesterday (13 April) at the final held at Waterside Inn in Bray, Berkshire.
The chef is a Roux Scholarship finalist having competed in 2024, but he lost out to Karol Ploch.
Before opening Gather in 2019 with friends, Brockington gained experience working in several restaurants across Devon and trained at the Michael Caines Academy at Exeter College.
The other participants were Liam Anderson, from Midsummer House, Cambridge; Jordon Powell, from Chalk Restaurant, West Sussex; Oliver Robinson, from Coworth Park, Berkshire; Nikoletta Theofylaktidou, from Restaurant Associates, London; and George Wintle, from Trinity, London.
For this year’s final, the six chefs were tasked with serving up a Mediterranean-inspired surf ‘n’ turf in the style of honorary president of judges Mauro Colagreco using two whole Dover sole, two whole cuttlefish, 400g minced pork sausage meat, mushrooms, asparagus and at least one citrus fruit variety.
They were offered a selection of Menton lemons, bergamots, finger limes and grapefruit picked from the garden at Colagreco’s three-star Michelin restaurant Mirazur on the Côte d’Azur.
The chefs also had a wide choice of other ingredients with which to prepare their recipe.
As this year’s winner, Brockington will receive up to £12,000 to support his career development.
Additionally, he will have the option of taking part in either a two-month stage at a three-Michelin-starred restaurant anywhere in the world or a bespoke training programme tailored to his individual ambitions, skills gaps and interests, alongside receiving prizes from the competition sponsors.
“I’m over the moon. I just can’t believe it,” says Brockington.
“I only entered this competition to see how far I could get. I never thought I could do it!”
Chef Mauro Colagreco says: “There were six fantastic talents today, with plenty of passion and energy.
“The young chefs showed huge potential.
“There were very different skills on show and different interpretations.
“It was super-interesting to see the next generation of chefs with different skills from my generation.
“All of the dishes were really good, but there was a clear winner.
“It’s not easy to match meat and fish but some were more timid than others and that made the difference.”