A MasterChef contestant from the North East has gained a place in the quarter finals of the show.

Nickolas is 31, he works as a delivery driver and lives in Darlington with his partner and five-year-old daughter.

Born in Venezuela, he grew up in Camden in London, and now Nickolas and his family live in the town.

Describing his style of cooking, Nickolas said: “I love championing Latin flavours from all over South America. Sharing the dishes from my heritage with others especially my daughter is special.

“I love the punchiness of Venezuelan food but I also have an adoration of French classics and techniques. In many ways my food is a mixture of all of these things.”

Read more: Meet the two chefs representing our region on tonight's first episode of MasterChef

Read more: Eating Out Review: We tried Darlington's newest Asian-fusion restaurant

Read more: 'It's a real gratitude moment': Woman to open her second beauty salon in Darlington

On last night’s episode (Tuesday, April 11), John Torode said: “What he’s got to do is just calm down a little bit and deliver full-on, big flavour with a bit of elegance.”

Last night Nickolas made a bouillabaisse of turbot, red mullet, and langoustine, served with croutons and a garlic and saffron rouille, in an homage to Keith Floyd.

Torode said: “The langoustine tails are cooked beautifully, your turbot is just cooked, your red mullet I really like, it’s lovely and strong, but your rouille hasn’t worked. You’ve got the raw garlic, you’ve got the saffron which is nice but you don’t have that lovely thick sauce. I’m sad it’s not there because the flavour is really good.”

Gregg Wallace said: “I can taste the fish, I can taste the aniseed of the booze you've used. The only issue I have is that your rouille isn't thick like mayonnaise. Apart from that I am really enjoying your dish.”

For more quality journalism, subscribe to The Northern Echo for £1.50 a week here. 

The path that led to Nickolas appearing on MasterChef is bittersweet.

He said: “My best friend passed away suddenly in an accident two years ago, I became very close to his brother Darren who is a massive MasterChef fan.

“He’d always known about my passion for cooking and thought I had the skills from seeing all the pictures I post of my food on social media, so he sent me the link to apply. The rest as they say ‘is history.’

 “My ultimate food dream would be to have my own restaurant and run it with my partner and daughter. I would love to showcase Venezuelan cuisine and Latin cuisine in a fine dining setting.”