Akwaaba named winner of Lexington Casual Dining Competition 2023

Ghanaian street food concept Akwaaba was crowned the winner of Lexington’s Casual Dining Competition, which was held last night (13 July) in London’s Hoxton.

This marked the second year of the competition, which first launched last year as a chance for chefs across Lexington’s Business & Industry portfolio to create their own marketing and mobilisation plans, menu and uniform for a casual dining concept.

Successful concepts, including Akwaaba, will be rolled out at specific sites or across the wider business.

The second iteration of the competition encompassed all of Lexington’s catering arms, including school caterers from Kent College, who represented the Chaat Club (vegetarian thali) concept.

There were originally 31 teams (amounting to 186 individual competitors) from across the Lexington business; they were whittled down to 19 teams for the semi-finals and 8 teams for the finals.

Akwaaba, meaning “you are warmly welcome” in Ghanaian, impressed judges and guests with their dishes, which included the vegan Kontomire and egisu stew served with boiled yam and the Waakye and slow cooked goat meat stew.

The team were also kitted out in African-patterned skirts and shirts hand-stitched by the aunt of one of the team members.

They were victorious against stiff competition from the other finalists, including Colombian street food concept Caleña, who were serving pork head arepas; luxury plant-based desserts with cocktails brand Sift & Bake, who offered vegan lemon meringues; and Tulum-inspired Mexican food concept Quintana, who created the birria tacos.

Over 150 people, including Lexington clients, were invited to attend the final at OKN1, a collaborative kitchen and dining space belonging to New City College in London’s Hackney, which is also home to Lexington’s Chef School.

The space had a food market feel, stretching out to a large garden featuring live music, a Pimm’s stall and alfresco seating.

On the night, eight judges, including Stevie Reece, former Lexington executive chef; Owen Kenworthy, owner of the Pelican; Opeoluwa Odutayo, recipe developer at Future Plates; and Michal Seal, marketing and commercial director at Elior UK, were tasked with tasting and scoring each of the food stalls.

Their scores were worth 70% of the final vote, while the guests themselves had 30% say.

Matt Wood, managing director of Lexington, said: “This competition provides a true showcase of the passion and creativity that our business excels in. We have seen a more diverse range of concepts than in prior years, and it is truly exciting to see our people pull together and create such innovative concepts.”

Neil Rankin, creative director at Symplicity Foods and one of the judges for the competition, commented: “This year was incredible. The standout dish was definitely something from Akwaaba that I’ve never really tried before. It was something I really want to delve into and that was an education for me.”

Kenworthy, a fellow judge, added: “What I loved most about this event was the rich diversity of the food on offer. Through this competition, Lexington has successfully created such a great opportunity for its teams to innovate and it has brought together different cuisines and cultures which will now be available to its clients and customers. These concepts rival those I experience in the restaurant industry and it is so exciting to witness such innovation and creativity in the contract catering world.”