A hitherto unknown Jewish chef who is the son of a Chigwell taxi driver has been crowned the Great British Menu champion of 2022.

Spencer Metzger, 29, floored the judges of the BBC2 show with his TV-themed dishes including Be Careful What You Fish For, based on Sherlock Holmes, and his main course, First Impressions, based on Pride and Prejudice.

The success caps an incredible career rise for Metzger, who first entered the kitchen at the Ritz aged just 15 on work experience, before joining as an apprentice and climbing up through the ranks to become head chef.

EastEnders star Anita Dobson - one member of a prestigious judging panel that included award-winning chef Tom Kerridge, restaurateur Nisha Katona, and comedian and host of foodie podcast Off Menu, Ed Gamble - described the fish course as "heaven".

The judges were even more impressed by his main course, which Mr Kerridge labelled "magic and amazing" with Ms Katona adding that the "flavour is phenomenal".

For the final banquet, which saw  Mr Metzger take on seven other strong chefs, he served his fish dish with a recyclable cardboard magnifying glass around the plate that contained a hidden message revealed under UV light.

The Jewish gastronome told the Times that  his father had been invited to the final banquet but didn't know why. That was not the case for his mother, however.

He said: “There was no hiding it from my mum, because every day I came back from filming it was, ‘Well? Well? Well? How did you get on?’ But my dad’s not into his food and I just told him he had to turn up to this event, and wear such and such, but I didn’t tell him what it was or that I’d won. He had no idea what it was about and nearly fell on the floor when he found out, he was crying so much.”

At the final Mr Metzger battled against 31 of Britain's top chefs in eight weeks of tasks revolving around this year’s theme of 100 years of British broadcasting.

Stars of public broadcasting including Clive Myrie, Kirsty Wark, Prue Leith and Mary Berry were present at the final dinner, and a star struck Mr Metzger told the Times: “Just to bump into someone like Mary Berry was fantastic. I should have brought my cookbooks in for her to sign.

“But it was cooking for my family that I loved the most because they had been through it all with me. There was my mum saying, ‘Oh look there’s Ainsley Harriott. Oh my God, it’s Anita Dobson. Can I get my picture with you?’ ”