The Craft Guild of Chefs has named the 40 chefs who will go on to compete in the semi-finals of the National Chef of the Year 2014.

After a high number of applicants in the paper judging round, where the brief was to submit a creative lunch menu for four guests within two hours, candidates have been whittled down and grouped into four heats.

The menus in the paper judging stage had to reflect Asian, Oriental, Modern British, Modern European and Rest of the World cuisines and consist of a vegetable focused starter, main course using locally sourced fresh white fish, with appropriate accompaniments and a dessert using summer fruits, served hot or cold.

David Mulcahy, the competition’s organiser and vice president of Craft Guild, said: “The standard of entries of this year’s competition is excellent and we’re really looking forward to see how the menus transfer from paper to the plate.”

More than 40 industry judges will form an esteemed panel to help select the finalists and winner including the likes of Gary Jones, executive head chef at Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons and Clare Smyth MBE, chef patron at three-Michelin starred Restaurant Gordon Ramsay.

The heats will take place at Sheffield College on Tuesday June 10 and at Le Cordon Bleu in London on Wednesday June 25. Only eight chefs will progress into the final which takes place at The Restaurant Show in October.

The Craft Guild of Chefs National Chef of the Year 2014 semi-finalists and their competition dates are:

SHEFFIELD - HEAT ONE - 10 JUNE

Zoltan Szabo, Head Chef, Grand Central Hotel

Andrew Wright, Sous Chef, Restaurant 23

Max Tempest Endicott, Sous Chef, The Star Inn

Thomas Pickard, Sous Chef, Swinton Park Hotel

Dylan Wyn Owens, Sous Chef, Belle Epoque

Robert Potter, Head Chef, Lucknam Park Hotel

Ian Boyd-Thorpe, Sous Chef, The Peat Inn

Andrew Gotting, Executive

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Group Head Chef, Galloping Gourmet

Glenn Evans, Food Development Manager, Greene King Slawomir

Mikolajczyk, Head Chef, Winteringham Fields

Dion Jones, Head Chef, Crewe Hall Hotels

LONDON - HEAT TWO - 25 June - Le Cordon Bleu, London

Kyle Jenkins, Sous Chef, La Trompette

Paul O'Neill, Senior Sous Chef, Ashdown Park Hotel

Andrew Lagor, Business Development Chef, Unilever Food Solutions

Byron James Hayter , Head Chef, L'Horizon Beach & Hotel Spa

Francisco Carrasco, Sous Chef, Aqua Shard

Diane Kay, Development Chef, Reynolds

Rohan Wadke, Junior Sous Chef, Grand Central Hotel

Saurav Nath, Sous Chef, Gymkhana

Liam McKenna, Junior Sous Chef, Sandringham Yacht Club

Sankar Chandrasekaran, Sous Chef,The Cinnamon Club

LONDON - HEAT THREE - 25 June - Le Cordon Bleu, London

Adam Handling, Head Chef, St Ermins Hotel

Russell Bateman, Head Chef, Colette's

Greg Newman, Junior Sous Chef , Bovey Castle

David Bush, Senior Chef De Partie, House of Commons

Andrew Birch, Sous Chef, Montagu Arms Hotel

John (Jake) Burton Stewart, Senior Chef de Partie, BaxterStorey

Steven Wylie, Executive Chef, Sodexo

Tony Stuart, Hospitality Head Chef, Lexington Catering (Standard Bank)

Scott Dineen, Senior Sous Chef, BaxterStorey

Simon McKenzie, Executive Chef, R.W. Randall

LONDON - HEAT FOUR - 25 June - Le Cordon Bleu, London

Daniel Morgan, Sous Chef , The Square

Iain Dixon, Sous Chef, The Nut Tree Inn

Fabian Palese, Sous Chef, The Park Lane Hotel London

Al Eggleston, Executive Chef, Vacherin

Simon Webb, Head Chef, CH&co

Neil Yule, Head Chef, Sodexo

Lahiru Jayasekara, Head Chef, The Manor at Weston on the Green

Maarten Geschwindt, Chef Patron, Landmark Hotel

Nick Edgar, Head Chef, Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat Saisons

Elisha Carter, Head Chef, Café Royal Hotel

>>> Read more about National Chef of the Year here

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