The Craft Guild of Chefs has announced which chefs will be heading to the live final of National Chef of the Year 2017 at The Restaurant Show on Tuesday, October 4 2016.
To earn their place in the UK’s most prestigious culinary competition, the successful chefs had to compete in a cook-off at Sheffield College or Le Cordon Bleu in London.
Danny Parker
Danny Parker, head chef at House of Tides in Newcastle was the first chef to take a place after winning the Sheffield Heat on Tuesday, June 14. He will be joined by today’s London Heat winners Martin Carabott, senior sous chef at The Royal Automobile Club, Adam Thomason, head chef at Restaurant Associates and Charles Smith, head chef at Alyn Williams at The Westbury.
The final six places were given to the chefs from all the heats who had the highest scores and completing the talented line-up is: Liam McKenna, head chef at Trump International, James Devine, sous chef at EIPIC, Paul Foster, chef patron of Salt, Stephanie Coupland, chef de partie at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, Luciano Lucioli, head chef at Lusso – CH&Co. and Kamil Wierzbowski, sous chef at Petrus Restaurant, Gordon Ramsay.
As well as competing in the National Chef of the Year final, the chefs will also attend a Mentor Day at The Grove, Hertfordshire on Monday, September 5. Chefs will be presented with a mystery basket of ingredients to be used in the final and enjoy a masterclass with former NCOTY winner, Russell Bateman.
Talking after the announcement of the finalists at a presentation ceremony at Le Cordon Bleu, David Mulcahy, Vice President of the Craft Guild of Chefs and organiser of the competition said: “This has probably been our most hotly-contested semi-finals to date, starting with an amazing Sheffield heat last week and some closely fought London heats today. It was an interesting brief this year which focused on core culinary skills and these ten chefs have demonstrated a high level of skill whilst adapting the brief to their own cooking style.”
The semi-finals were judged by a panel of over 40 judges chaired by Clare Smyth MBE, who said: “I know I said it last year, but the standard of cooking in these semi-finals gets more impressive each year. What is most interesting for me is how high the standard was in Sheffield, the chefs up there put so much work and originality into their dishes and it was so close at the top. I believe we have found ten incredibly talented chefs who now have to raise their game even further to be in with a chance of taking the UK’s most sought-after title.”
In addition to the NCOTY announcement, several of the young chefs going forward to the Young National Chef of the Year Final were also revealed. Heat winners Arthur Bridgeman-Quin from the Punchbowl Inn and Ruth Hansom from The Ritz are to be joined by the four highest scoring young chefs from both the London and Sheffield heats, with the remaining YNCOTY finalists to be seeded from other industry competitions. The four additional YNCOTY finalists were named as Danny Young of Northcote Manor, Drew Snaith from Brunswick House, April Lily Partridge from The Clove Business Club and Daniela Tucci of The Art School Restaurant.
You can find out more about the competition and follow the progress on Twitter with @Craft_Guild and #NCOTY and on the website at www.nationalchefoftheyear.co.uk
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