Who is Dominic Taylor? Meet the winner of Netflix’s Five Star Chef

Five Star Chef, the Channel 4 cooking competition that aired on Netflix on July 14, 2023, released all six episodes, with seven professional chefs participating in it. Out of the seven challengers, the chef who came out on top is Dominic Taylor.

The winner received one of the biggest prizes ever offered in reality cooking shows: a chance to open their restaurant in the prestigious Langham Hotel in London.

His website states:

"Chef Dom Taylor was born to a Jamaican mother & Saint Lucian father. Through his mother & the elder women in the family, he developed a love for cooking from an early age."

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“I always wanted to be a chef” Five Star Chef opens up about his culinary journey

One of the seven professional chefs who competed in Five Star Chef was Dominic Taylor, who ultimately came out on top and took home the prize. While in conversation with the Catford Chronicle, the executive chef, who has been in the industry for two decades, opened up about his culinary journey.

"I always wanted to be a chef. I come from a big family and cooking for events; weddings, parties etc would always be done in-house," Chef Dom said.

The Five Star Chef champion grew up in London in a single-parent family with five siblings and would always be in the kitchen watching his mother and other family members as they cooked. He stated that while the rest of his friends were watching cartoons, he watched the Food Network and learned a lot.

Dom stated that he grew up in Catford, London, around a lot of British food, which influenced his cooking. About his time in Catford, he stated that he loved growing up there and remembers playing outside and venturing into town.

The chef trained locally at Lewisham College before enlisting at Thames Valley University, followed by a year working in South Carolina. Before starting his establishment, Chef Dom Taylor Kitchen & Fourteen87, the place that had the biggest impact on his career was working at The Belgrave Hotel in Belgravia.

The Five Star Chef winner wants to share his Caribbean roots with the world and change notions about cuisine in general. On his website, he states:

"I feel an internal responsibility to try and change the stereotypes surrounding Caribbean food."

In the cooking competition, he competed against Adria Wu, Jordon Brady, Igno Sapega, Raquel Fleetwood, Lara Norman, and Anna Banfield. The two chefs who made it to the finale, along with Dom, were Wu and Brady.

Before heading into the final challenge, the chef said he couldn’t believe that he had made it so far. He added that he failed to show leadership skills in a few challenges but now has the opportunity to redeem himself.

Michel Roux Jr. told them in the season finale that for over three nights, the contestants had to run the Palm Court’s kitchen as their own, as each of them had to take on the responsibilities of head chef for one night each.

In his final interview during the challenge, Dom said that when he first arrived, he had imposter syndrome and couldn’t see his food fitting there. He noted that initially, he wasn’t proud of cooking Caribbean food but started cooking it again only five years ago.

Eventually, Dom was able to showcase the food he was passionate about, run the restaurant most impressively, and take home the Five Star Chef prize.

Episodes of Five Star Chef are available to stream on Netflix.