Luxembourg Day Three

are not taken into account and therefore do not influence the marking, though I don't think anyone will deny that it certainly draws the eye, and enhances the food offer. This will of course mean that everyone is on a level playing field; it will reduce costs for the teams which has to be better for the smaller teams that are not so well funded as others. It was like this some twenty or so years ago, and then, as the Salon's became International, funding grew for the teams, this saw teams such as the US and the Canadians, who are often government backed, have budgets that were in line with some third world countries GDP. This began to really raise the bar in terms of buffet design and layout and of course this has put a huge strain and added cost to many teams. So back to today's action, and Team England are placed between Culinary heavyweights Germany and Singapore, for me the Germans are very good, this is all my opinion, nothing more, but it's quite traditional in fact the centre piece is somewhat sombre and reminds me of a cemetery, sorry but it does, much of the work is very good, with great detail, very intimate, I'm not an expert, so again I'm simply telling it as I see it. Team England's is very clean, a beautiful centre piece, that rises from the table and rotates, the buffet is clean un-cluttered and some of the petit fours you are frightened to breath near, as they look beautiful and yet so fragile. The Singapore buffet display is outstanding, it's how I would want my ideal kitchen to look it's clean, straight lines, very simple. The table is stunning right down to the dish display talkers not a detail is missed. There of course is an Asian theme to their work, and for me it's the stand out buffet. Just to explain the rules a little, it is not a first past the post system, but medals are awarded on points scored, so you could in theory have everyone or no one win a gold medal. The points total, works the same for both junior and senior teams and although each team, has a junior and senior team, they are judged as separate teams. Having won a gold in the hot kitchen, the cold team, have added pressure to achieve the same result, the combine results points tally will result in an overall "Culinary World Cup Winner" which is a first past the post system. It was great news for English Junior today team, who added another silver medal to their hot kitchen silver, so congratulations to all, and at this point I must point out, what a highly motivated talented young team, Team England has, and how refreshing to see, when so often we read of the doom and gloom of tomorrows generation of chefs. So it's very much fingers crossed here at Hilton Luxembourg for the senior team, it's a night off tonight everyone has finished, it's five O'clock, as I write this. I have a feeling that a few beers may just be consumed tonight!