Finalists announced for 2017 National Chef of the Year

The Craft Guild of Chefs has named the chefs who will be competing in the final of National Chef of the Year at The Restaurant Show on 4 October 2016.

To earn their place in the prestigious culinary competition, the successful chefs competed in a cook-off at Sheffield College or Le Cordon Bleu in London.

The finalists are:-

Danny Parker, head chef, House of Tides, Newcastle
Martin Carabott, senior sous chef, The Royal Automobile Club, London
Adam Thomason, head chef, Restaurant Associates
Charles Smith, head chef, Alyn Williams at The Westbury, London
Liam McKenna, head chef, Trump International
James Devine, sous chef, EIPIC, Belfast
Paul Foster, chef patron, Salt
Stephanie Coupland, chef de partie, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, London
Luciano Lucioli, head chef, Lusso (CH&Co Group)
Kamil Wierzbowski, sous chef, Petrus, London

As well as competing in the National Chef of the Year final, the chefs will also attend a mentor day at the Grove in Chandler's Cross, Hertfordshire, on 5 September. Chefs will be presented with a mystery basket of ingredients to be used in the final and enjoy a masterclass with former National Chef of the Year winner Russell Bateman.

David Mulcahy, vice president of the Craft Guild of Chefs and organiser of the competition, said: "This has probably been our most hotly-contested semi-finals to date, starting with an amazing Sheffield heat last week and some closely fought London heats today. It was an interesting brief this year which focused on core culinary skills and these ten chefs have demonstrated a high level of skill whilst adapting the brief to their own cooking style."

The semi-finals were judged by a panel of over 40 judges chaired by Clare Smyth, who commented: "I know I said it last year, but the standard of cooking in these semi-finals gets more impressive each year. What is most interesting for me is how high the standard was in Sheffield, the chefs up there put so much work and originality into their dishes and it was so close at the top. I believe we have found ten incredibly talented chefs who now have to raise their game even further to be in with a chance of taking the UK's most sought-after title."

In addition to the National Chef of the Year announcement, several of the young chefs going forward to the Young National Chef of the Year (YNCOTY) final were also revealed.

Heat winners Arthur Bridgeman-Quin from the Punchbowl Inn and Ruth Hansom from The Ritz are to be joined by the four highest scoring young chefs from both the London and Sheffield heats, with the remaining YNCOTY finalists to be seeded from other industry competitions. The four additional YNCOTY finalists were named as Danny Young of Northcote, Drew Snaith from Brunswick House, April Lily Partridge from the Clove Club and Daniela Tucci of The Art School Restaurant.

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