Philli Armitage-Mattin

Philli was the only female finalist in MasterChef: The Professionals 2020. She wowed judges with her skills, making it down to the final four, with judges Monica Galetti, Marcus Wareing and Gregg Wallace all impressed with her cooking. Having studied a master’s in chemistry at Bristol University – where she was taught by the same tutor as Heston Blumenthal – Philli went on to the University of West London to gain her professional cookery qualification, before going onto train under Gordon Ramsay. In 2018, inspired by her love of Asian cuisine, Philli bought a one-way ticket to travel round Asia and experience the culture and food first-hand. Here, Philli staged at world-renowned restaurant Den in Tokyo before travelling to Hong Kong to work at Japanese-inspired restaurant Haku. Her mission is to get people to try new flavours, mainly using Asian ingredients such as miso and gochujang, and to make delicious dishes such as Xinjiang lamb kebabs, Korean fried chicken and okonomiyaki (a Japanese pizza).