Royal Surrey County Hospital team scoops NHS Chef of the Year 2024

Winning menu

Hernandez and Miccoli’s winning menu started with venison bao buns, taking inspiration from Asian cuisine, which Hernandez began his career cooking. He said that the pair chose venison as it is low carbon and nutrient rich, while the accompanying sauce comprised Asian BBQ flavours alongside seasonal blackberries.

Miccoli’s home country of Italy prompted the main course of gnocchi with a hake fillet, savoury granola, salsa and a cherry tomato sauce, while Italian inspiration was in full force for the dessert too: a tiramisu with homemade biscuits.

Hernandez said he was “in shock” at the win, adding: “I’m very proud of Manuela and I. We did what we wanted and now we’ll go back to our trust and keep working.”

Miccoli said: “We applied our skills step by step and we believed we could do it. We are a good team together, always respectful. We loved it!”

Hernandez also emphasised that everything was made from scratch, saying: “We had the knowledge and we executed it how we thought would be right for a hospital setting.”

Competition judges comprised Nick Vadis, chef ambassador to the NHS supply chain; Tim Radcliffe, net zero food programme manager, NHS England; and Lisa Goodwin-Allen, executive chef at Northcote, who described all the finalists as winners in her eyes. Labelling the competitors’ cookery standards as “phenomenal”, she said: “When we’re sick and down, we find those humbling dishes that really resonate with us and make us feel better. We can absolutely see that in some of these dishes that were produced – there was some outstanding cookery.

“I can definitely see how far the bar has been raised.”

Competition to raise NHS food standards

Phil Shelley, senior operational manager for soft FM and national lead for net zero food at NHS England, is one of the driving forces behind the NHS Chef of the Year contest, now in its fourth year. He said the culmination of the 2024 competition had been “brilliant”, and with finalists from across the country and representing both acute and mental health hospitals, the teams were “a true reflection of what the NHS is all about”.

He said of the contest: “We try and build in the model of the day-to-day activity for an NHS chef. The food is presented in a way that’s appropriate, but we also have to make sure it reflects the patient meal.”

Shelley feels that the winners become “rock stars”, representing NHS chefs on the wider stage for the next 12 months. And in terms of the intention behind the competition, he added: “It’s about raising the game and taking the rest of the country with them. We’re seeing real change throughout all hospitals but it takes time because we are a massive organisation.

“The competition is always going to be a highlight and focal point but it’s my role to both visit those trusts doing great things and use them as a case study, or go to those trusts that are really struggling on workforce, finance or food choice and try and help them out.”

Shelley concluded: “This competition is no doubt a benchmark that we need to take everybody with us on a journey, otherwise it will not be seen as a success.”