Kenneth Toft-Hansen from Restaurant Svinklov Badehotel in Denmark was awarded the gold Bocuse d’Or in the first world final since the competition’s founder, Paul Bocuse, passed away. The prize was the gold trophy and €20,000.
Sebastian Gibrand from Sweden took silver whilst Christian André Pettersen was awarded bronze for Norway. The Special Prize for theme on a plate was awarded to France and the best meat platter went to Team Finland. Denmark was also awarded the best commis prize.
Candidate Tom Phillips, from the Michelin starred Restaurant Story in London, secured 10th place, one position behind the competition’s last winners, Team USA. Tom was supported by commis chef Nathan Lane and coach, Adam Bennett MCA from The Cross at Kenilworth, Adam remains the UK’s top scoring Bocuse d’Or candidate having finished in fourth position and won the best meat and commis prize in 2013.
For President and UK Jury member, Simon Rogan, chef owner of L’Enclume, Roganic and Aulis, it was his first opportunity to sit on the international jury of acclaimed chefs and be part of the contest.
Simon commented, “It’s been great to see the competition first hand and experience it all. It was quite an intriguing occasion and interesting to observe and to see what is needed to achieve a good result. I’m taking a lot from this so we can do what we need to do to get up the table and up to the top.”
Chefs from 24 countries took part in the final, with more than 60 countries entering in total. The world final took place on Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 January at Sirha, an international trade show in Lyon. Each national team was given five hours 35 minutes to produce 16 plates of the fish course and a platter which had to be divided into 14 portions before it was served to the international jury.
Andreas Antona, chair of the Bocuse d’Or UK Academy which he founded to increase the financial backing and resource for Team UK added, “I’d like to thank the team for their sheer determination, fearless approach and great craftsmanship leading up to this fantastic result. Before we left we said we’d be happy to be in the top ten and what we’ve achieved shows we are progressing in the right direction. I’d also like to take the opportunity to thank all our partners, sponsors and supporters who have helped us to achieve the result.
“We believe we have the right infrastructure to see us develop and achieve a podium place in the not to distant future. The team and I are now focused on our push to Lyon in 2021, starting with the search for the next candidate and the next continental selection in Estonia 2020. It will be great to see as many of you as possible, supporting us on our journey.”
For the theme on a plate the teams prepared two hot chartreuses – 8 portions for each. The chartreuses had to be identical and include a minimum of 50% vegetal ingredients. They were stuffed with a shellfish stew made using 32 scallops, 60 mussels, 18 oysters and 60 cockles.
Team UK’s theme on a plate was Chartreuse of scallops, mussels, oyster and cockles layered with cauliflower and braised leeks. Salad of market vegetables with lovage.
This year’s theme on the platter was rack of suckling veal with five chops served together with one or more choices of offal from a list including sweetbreads, calf’s ruffle, foot, kidneys and liver. In a change to the competition’s previous rules, sous-vide cooking of the meat was not permitted. The veal had to be served with sauce or gravy, three garnishes and be portioned into 14 plates.
For the platter Tom and Nathan produced a Rack of suckling veal, sweetbread and braised with New Forest yellow foot Chanterelle mushroom farce, Suffolk sand carrot tartlet, braised onions milk poached calf’s liver with Gloucester Old Spot and Wye Valley and potato terrine with Tunworth cheese
The Top Ten finishing teams were:
Denmark KENNETH TOFT-HANSEN
Sweden SEBASTIAN GIBRAND
Norway CHRISTIAN ANDRÉ PETTERSEN
Finland ISMO SIPELÄINEN
Switzerland MARCIO GARCIA
France MATTHIEU OTTO
Japan HIDEKI TAKAYAMA
Belgium LODE DE ROOVER
USA MATTHEW KIRKLEY
United Kingdom TOM PHILLIPS
The other finalists in order of scores were Iceland, Hungary, Canada, Australia, Italy, Argentina, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, China, Morocco, Chile, Brazil and Tunisia.
The Bocuse d’Or UK Academy is supported by longstanding partners Aubrey Allen, Classic Fine Foods, Continental Chef Supplies, Convotherm, Ritter Courivaud and University College Birmingham with support from key sponsors Bragard, Elle et Vire, Faber Design, Mash Purveyors, Mauviel, Nestle CHEF, Promart, Urbani Truffles and Westlands.
For more information and photography please email [email protected] or call Michelle on 07814 028 664.
