BY day he is designing boats – but in the evening Alex Parker is designing creative culinary delights.

The 27-year-old from Stanmore in Winchester made it through to the quarter finals of hit TV series Masterchef.

And now, the naval architect who works for Crondall Energy Consultants has not let the disappointment of not making it through to the semi-finals of the BBC show bother him and has created a popular blog on Instagram, which has been followed by nearly 3000 people.

Mr Parker featured on Masterchef earlier this month, speaking about how it all came about he said: "I had not thought about it at all, I applied on a whim and filled out the form and they called me back and I did a screen audition.

"I think it all got out of hand and suddenly I was cooking infront of the cameras and Gregg and Alex."

"You go in there knowing you have a job to do and you get on with it. I first challenge it was really hard work, we went in there thinking we are going to cooking something but instead we had a He said although filming for the show happened six months ago, he has not yet watched footage of the quarter final.

Describing his passion for food, he said: "It is just something to do in my spare time, I would like to say my girlfriend loves it, but sometimes she says can you just make me a pasta please instead of intricate puree."

He said he loves living in Winchester, as the food choices there can inspire ideas.

Mr Parker said: "Winchester is very eclectic, I went to Kyoto Kitchen in Parchment Street a few weeks ago and I loved the Japanese food and I was knocked away by it. My girlfriend and I also love River Cottage as well, Winchester has so many different types of food and restaurants and we like to go to the Asian market by Primark,"

Mr Parker, will not let his passion for food get away, and is holding a pop-up supper event at The Bridge Patisserie on April 28 and 29.

To follow Alex visit www.instagram.com/alex_cooking/