Who has made the final of the Young Chef of the Year 2018?

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The finalists for Young Chef of the Year have been announced. The competition (which is in its second year) aims to find the best young talent in the kitchens of London and across the UK as well as encouraging others to consider starting a career in the hospitality industry.

M Restaurant and Bookatable by Michelin in association with Champagne Pommery have confirmed the finalists which are:

• Ollie Fitton, 21, The Ryebeck Hotel
• Adebayo Folarin, 22, Opera Tavern
• Jamie Gardner, 23, Coal Shed
• Hamish Pearce, 22, Hide
• William Bowman Smith, 24, Galloways of Woburn
• Stefano Camplone, 24, Neo Bistro
• Daniel Andree, 25, The Curlew Restaurant
• Aaron Ashmore, 27, Clarette
• Mateusz Maksymilian Mitka, 28, Hotel Farnborough
• Wojieck Okenski, 29, M
• Filippo Boaro, 24, M
• Andrew Beynon, 29, Pollen St Social

The 12 finalists, who are all under the age of 29, hail from some of the best restaurants across the UK. In contention for the coveted top spot are chefs from Hide, Pollen St. Social, Coal Shed and The Curlew, as well as other top restaurants. The finalists were selected after proposing an original four-course menu based on £45 per head together with costings for 50 covers.

The finalists’ menus will be judged throughout July by a prestigious panel of judges which includes: M Restaurant founder, Martin Williams; M Group Executive Chef, Michael Reid; as well as leading chefs and personalities who are backing the M campaign; including Adam Handling, Andy Lynes, Claudio Cardoso, Sophie Michell, Daniel Watkins, Jose Pizarro, Michael Wignall, Steve Dinneen, Sudi Pigott and Tom Kemble.

Aside from taking on the tough job of judging the dishes, M founder Martin Williams is hoping that Young Chef of the Year competition will inspire the next generation of young chefs. He says “There are two purposes of the competition. To nurture the best young talent already in our kitchens and secondly, I hope that by seeing what other young people are doing with food, it will inspire others to get into the professional kitchen and try it out for themselves! Thanks to Brexit the hospitality industry is suffering from worrying staff shortages and we want to make becoming a chef an aspirational career to students coming out of schools and colleges.”

The Young Chef of the Year competition continues to be highly competitive and the final 12 have all suitably impressed M Group Executive Chef Michael Reid and guest judges in two competition rounds and have now been invited to M Victoria Street to cook in a series of pop up takeover nights from 3 -28 July, with diners and judges voting for their favourite young chef.

Last year’s competition such two of the finalists Perry Torrance and Jack Barwick being crowned joint winners with both chefs achieving a staggering 674 points out of a maximum 750 to win the competition.

This year’s competition has prize categories include the Young Chef of the Year Winner, Young Chef of the Year Runner Up, Best Dish as voted by the judges and Best Social Campaign as voted by Bookatable. The winner and runner up will receive a five-day ‘pop up residency’ each in the 50 cover RAW restaurant at M Victoria St. The winner will also receive a trip to Champagne and a set of Blenheim Forge Knives.

The winners will be announced on 31 July at an awards ceremony.