A trio of New City College trainee chefs have made it through to the grand final of a national student chef competition.

Trainee chefs Samuel Paoli, Maria Carbone and Paulo De la Cruz, from the college's Hackney campus, make up one of just eight teams across the country to make it to the final.

The team is taking part in the Country Range competition, a prestigious culinary contest which has become a firm fixture in the catering industry’s calendar.

The grand final will be held live at the Hotel, Catering and Restaurant (HCR) show at London’s Excel Centre on March 22.

The chefs will have to work together to create, cook and present a three course menu in 90 minutes that showcases their skill and understanding of flavours.

The three New City College chefs, who are all studying the Level 3 Diploma in Professional Cookery, were on a work experience trip to Florence when they heard the news that they had been selected.

They described feeling “really excited" to have made it to the final.

"We work well as a team and we are looking forward to sharing our dishes with the judges”, a statement from the team said.

For the first stage of the contest the teams had to include full menus with recipes and costings, methodology, and images of the dishes they devised.

The judges were Chris Basten, from the Craft Guild of Chefs, and chef Daniel Ayton, who both said it had been one of the most competitive stages in the competition’s history.

Kate Bancroft, from the Country Range Group, said: “Congratulations to all the teams who have made it through to the final.

"The quality of the menus submitted was phenomenal. The eight winning menus all sound incredible, so it’s shaping up to be an exciting final cook-off.”

Dishes cooked up by trainee chefs from New City College can be tasted at the college's restaurant OKN1.

OKN1 can be found on Hoxton Street.

Visit www.okn1.co.uk to find out more.