Lee Ladislav Poustevnik wins the Te Mana Lamb Challenge 2019

Head chef of Beales Gourmet, Lee Ladislav Poustevnik, has been crowned the winner of this year’s Te Mana Lamb Challenge.

Originally from the Czech Republic, Lee’s dish of saddle of lamb, slow-cooked lamb rump, a lamb bun, carrot purree and carrot top pesto, was the stand out dish for the judges beating the seven other finalists.

On winning he said: “There were some big dogs from London and honestly I’m chuffed, I wasn’t expecting to win but it’s an amazing feeling. I’m really surprised, I was a bit late and I wasn’t completely happy with the dish but it all paid off in the end.”

The finalists had two hours to create a dish using Te Mana Lamb in a bid to bag a place on Alliance’s Pure South Discovery Series 2020. The winning chef has the opportunity to visit Alliance’s farms in New Zealand and cook with Pure South products.

This year’s head judge, Simon Hulstone from Michelin-starred The Elephant , said: “We’ve seen eight fantastic chefs today but there was a stand out winner. All four judges agreed straight away that the dish encapsulated everything that we wanted to see – quality cooking, great ingredients and consistency throughout.”

The competition is only in it’s second year but already the amount of entries and the level of those entries has exceeded the first year.

Asia Walker, Marketing and Sales Assistant for Alliance said: “It’s great to see our lamb used in different ways, especially with different types of cuisine.”

She added: “The final has been really good, we’ve had an amazing selection of chefs from all different backgrounds and overall it has been a great success – we’re hoping to build on it even further next year.”

For more information on Te Mana Lamb click here: puresouth.co.uk