The Craft Guild of Chefs, in partnership with Knorr, has announced the finalists of Young National Chef of the Year 2014 awards.
Julien Pickersgill, British Culinary Federation Young Chef of the Year, Josh Bingham, highest achiever at the Craft Guild of Chefs Graduate Awards and the soon to be revealed highest achiever at the Academy of Culinary Arts Awards of Excellence had automatically been seeded a place in the final. They will be joined by James Goodyear (Sheffield heat winner), April Lily Partridge (London heat winner), Daniel Lee and Claire Willett who were selected following the semi-final cook-offs held at Sheffield College on Tuesday June 10th and at Le Cordon Bleu in London on Wednesday June 25th.
The eight chefs going through to the final are:
Julien Pickersgill, House of Commons, London
Josh Bingham, Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons, Oxfordshire
ACA overall winner
April Lily Partridge, The Club at The Ivy, London
Claire Willett, Wyboston Lakes, Bedfordshire
Daniel Lee, Brooklands Hotel, Surrey
James Goodyear,Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons, Oxfordshire
Luke Selby, Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons, Oxfordshire
Prior to their Mentor Day at the Knorr development kitchen in Leatherhead on September 9th, the chefs will receive the criteria for the final and be given details of the ingredient to be used in each course. They will then compete in front of a live audience at The Restaurant Show on October 7th. The winner and two runners up will be revealed along with The National Chef of the Year 2014 at an awards ceremony following the show.
Mark Sargeant, YNCOTY ambassador and a former winner of the title, spoke at the
announcement, “Winning Young National Chef of the Year was a fantastic part of my life and a stepping stone to the rest of my career. We’ve all been looking over the dishes today and I speak on behalf of all the judges when I say that we’ve all been incredibly impressed with the standard of cooking coming from these young chefs. There was so much raw talent on show today which makes me excited for the future of the industry and proud to be the competition’s ambassador.”
Stefan Horsnell, category marketing director, Unilever Food Solutions, the company behind KNORR®, says: “It’s our young chefs who will set the future culinary standards in our industry by bringing new flavours and exciting experiences to the table.
“That’s why we’re committed to supporting Young National Chef of the Year. This competition provides a platform to demonstrate skills, develop careers, and ensure the future of the UK culinary industry is in safe hands.
“I’ve been impressed with the standard so far. But, this is where the heat gets turned up as they compete to take the title at The Restaurant Show this October.”
For more information click here or follow @TNCOTY #YNCOTY