National Chef of the Year 2022 semi finalists revealed

The 40 chefs to have reached the semi final of the National Chef of the Year (NCOTY) 2022 competition have been announced.

The chefs discovered they were through to the next round of the competition when they were delivered a NCOTY-branded chef’s jacket today.

The semi-finals will see the chefs create an amuse bouche style signature dish reflecting their own favourite style or cuisine. The dishes will be presented via a short video, in which the competitors will explain their development.

The semi-finalists will also answer questions posed by chair of judges, Kenny Atkinson, chef patron at House of Tides in Newcastle. Once all entries have been received a new panel of judges will whittle them down to 10 finalists who will compete in a cook-off at Le Cordon Bleu in September.

Atkinson said: “Running my own business, I know how hard it is for chefs with staff shortages and so I take my hat off to every single chef who has entered this year. Credit must also go to the establishments and businesses they work for in supporting their entries. Putting together an entry of this level is time-consuming and requires a huge amount of effort and determination.

“The standard of entries this year was really high which makes this even more impressive, and it’s given us judges a huge amount of confidence in the future of the industry and the talent that is out there. At the judging session, there were many dishes that our panel were intrigued to taste so we are going to have a hard job reducing them down to just ten chefs next month.”

David Mulcahy, organiser of the competition and innovation & sustainability director at Sodexo UK and Ireland, said: “This year we celebrate 50 years of National Chef of the Year and we’ve already got some exciting events lined up for our mentor day and awards evening to mark this milestone. Each year we review the competition and look at how we can modernise it whilst maintaining the strong history and respect this competition has in the industry. Having seen the high level of entries, we’re set for another exciting battle at the final.”

The winner will take home a host of prizes including culinary experiences, equipment and trips of a lifetime.

The 40 semi-finalists are:

• Kyle Bowman, Sodexo, Tyne and Wear
• Caley Briddick, The Globe, Devon
• Ross Brown, BaxterStorey, London
• Louisa Budds, The Bookstore, Kent
• Carl Cleghorn, Thornbury Castle Hotel, Bristol
• Ross Cochrane, Rothesay Rooms, Aberdeenshire
• Daniel Conlon, Rafters Restaurant, Sheffield
• Cleverson Cordeiro, Frog by Adam Handling, London
• Oliver Dovey, BaxterStorey based at Coutt's Bank, London
• Ben Drake, The Elephant Restaurant, Devon
• Craig Edgell, Buoy and Oyster, Kent
• Benjamin Evans-Dodd, Rafters at Riverside House, Derbyshire
• Iain Gourlay, Cringletie House Hotel, Scottish Borders
• Sarah-Jasmina Green, Embassy of Finland, London
• Vladimir Hromek, South Farm Wedding Venue, Cambridgeshire
• Dion Jones, Rookery Hall Hotel and Spa, Cheshire
• Ashok Kumar, Atul Kochhar's Hospitality Group, Petts Wood
• Jethro Lawrence, Apetito, Wiltshire
• Rob Marshall, The Square Peg, Kent
• David Millar, Jupiter Artland, West Lothian
• Ben Murphy, Launceston Place, London
• Liam Newman, The Swan Brasserie, Kent
• Christopher Niven, Marine & Lawn Hotels, East Lothian
• Terry O'Riordan, Keto Chefs, Essex
• Lee Parsons, The Parsons Table, West Sussex
• April Lily Partridge, The Ledbury, London
• Russell Plowman, Restaurant Andrew Fairlie, Perthshire
• Stefan Sewell, Royal Air Force, Suffolk
• Jack Shaw, BaxterStorey, London
• Liam Skelton, Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Oxfordshire
• Matthew Smith, Inver, Argyll & Bute
• Adam Smith, Gravetye Manor, West Sussex
• Alexander Steward, Hartwell House Hotel, Buckinghamshire
• Nat Tallents, The Lost Gardens of Heligan, Cornwall
• Mattie Tew, Royal Navy Culinary Arts Team, Hampshire
• Gary Townsend, One Devonshire Gardens, Glasgow
• Charlotte Vincent, Noble Inns, Surrey
• Kacper Walor, chef, London
• Grahame Wickham, The Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst
• Tim Zekki, Duende, Somerset