Speaker Profile

Shelina Permalloo

Founder, Lakaz Maman (MasterChef Winner 2012)

Shelina Permalloo wowed TV judges of BBC’s MasterChef in 2012 and won the TV show with over 6.5 million viewers with her spicy and exotic street food dishes of Mauritius. She was the first female to win the show after 8 consecutive years of male winners.

In April 2016 Shelina opened up her first restaurant ‘Lakaz Maman Mauritian Street Kitchen’ in Southampton, UK, commended by the Hampshire Food and Drink Awards as Best Newcomer Restaurant. Lakaz Maman means Mum’s House an ode to the inspiration behind her cookery success, the restaurant focuses on Modern Mauritian Street Food. The business is lead by an all female management team with her Head Chef Maria Xenopoulou and her General Manager Sharon Brackley Smith.

Shelina joined the critically acclaimed BBC Radio 4's The Kitchen Cabinet chaired by Jay Rayner as a new panelist early in 2019. Shelina featured on BBC'S Radio 4 The Food Programme in September 2019 on a segment focussed on Mauritian Cuisine in the UK