Craft Guild of Chefs reveals National Chef of the Year 2018 semi-finalists
The Craft Guild of Chefs has announced the 41 semi-finalists in the running to win National Chef of the Year 2018.
The chefs will compete in heats at Sheffield College on 6 June or at Le Cordon Bleu cookery school in London on 20 June 2017.
The top scoring chef in each heat automatically gets a place in the live final at the Restaurant Show on 3 October at Olympia, London. It will then be down to the six chefs who received the highest runner-up scores to complete the line-up.
To get to the semi-finals, chefs have already had to impress 13 judges, including the new chair of judges, Gary Jones from Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons. He analysed all menu courses alongside David Mulcahy and Andrew Bennett.
Starters were judged by Alyn Williams, Peter Joyner and Willie Pike, with main courses being scrutinised by Clare Smyth, Philip Howard, Russell Bateman and Steve Scuffell. Marking the desserts was Graham Hornigold, Sarah Hartnett and Julie Sharp.
In the next round chefs must cook their menu in two hours, which must include a vegetarian starter, a duck and cherry combination main course, and a classic tart dessert.
Gary Jones said: "The paper judging process is rigorous, detailed and thorough. It's a tough assignment to take on and it's taken several of the industry's finest to assess the skills and professionalism of all our entrants. The standard of recipes and methods are so important for success. To stand out, chefs must show their knowledge, understanding of flavour combinations, seasonality, provenance, balance, texture and nail the brief to the tee. Now the paper side of the competition is complete, let's see what awaits our judges in the semi-finals."
Organiser of the competition and vice-president of the Craft Guild of Chefs David Mulcahy added: "Chefs have absolutely risen to the challenge and created what can only be described as stunning menus. My advice for all the semi-finalists is to grab this opportunity with both hands because the 10 chefs that make the final will purely be based on what comes out of the kitchen next month."
The semi finalists are:
Allister Barsby, executive chef, Grove of Narberth
Ian Boden, development chef, Flourish Food Solutions
Jack Bradley, head chef, Temple Sowerby House hotel
Ben Champkin, sous chef, L'Enclume restaurant
Jamie Coleman, head chef, Saunton Sands hotel
James Cousins, jnr sous chef, Restaurant Associates
Robert Cox, head chef, Tudor Farmhouse hotel
David Davey-Smith, chef, Royal Air Force Worthy Down
Richard Davies, head chef, Epicure/Celtic Manor Resort
Nathan Eades, head chef, Simpsons Restaurant
Glenn Evans, head of food development, Las Iguanas
John Grabecki, head chef, BNY Mellon
Dan Graham, head chef, Talbot Hotel Malton
Liam Grime, cpl chef, captain of the combined services culinary arts team, RAF Odiham
Adam Handling, chef, Adam Handling/the Frog restaurant
Ollie Hay, head chef, Nomura
Jahdre Hayward, head chef, Haywards Restaurant
Will Holland, head chef, Coast restaurant
Tom Lawson, chef patron, Rafters Restaurant
Luciano Lucioli, head chef, Lusso - CH&Co
Cormac Mc Creary, sous chef, the Ritz London
Liam McKenna, sous chef, Trump International
Sarah-Jasmina Moussabih, head chef, 10 Feet Tall
Karl O`Dell, senior sous chef, Petrus - Gordon Ramsay
Jack O'Donovan, sous chef, BaxterStorey
Andonis Paraskevas, executive head chef, Lusso catering
Scott Perkins, restaurant operations chef trainer, University of West London/Pillars Restaurant
Matthew Ramsdale, sous chef, the Chester Grosvenor
Luke Selby, head chef, Dabbous
Nick Smith, head chef, Harbour & Jones/Ashurst
David Stevens, conference and meeting sous chef, the Balmoral hotel
Marcin Szelag, head chef, Rocksalt Folkestone
Robert Taylor, chef patron, the Compasses Inn
Adam Thomason, head chef, Restaurant Associates - Deloitte
Simon Webb, head chef, Restaurant Associates
Dean Westcar, head chef, Restaurant Hywel Jones by Lucknam Park
Thomas Westerland, sous chef, Lucknam Park
Aled Williams, head of development and innovation, TRUEFoods
Kuba Winkowski, head chef, the Feathered Nest Inn
Andy Wright, head chef, Mercedes F1 Headquarters
RESERVES
Patrick Frischknecht, senior chef de partie, Petrus Gordon Ramsay
Grzegorz Olejarka, executive chef, the Trafalgar hotel
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