National Chef of the Year 2010 semi-finalists announced
The Craft Guild of Chefs (CGC) has announced the semi-finalists who will compete in the next round of the 2010 National Chef of the Year competition.
Set to cook head-to-head in a series of four cook-offs held at Westminster Kingsway College on 13 and 16 September, the chefs will be whittled down to just eight who will go through to compete live at final, held at The Restaurant Show on 11 October.
David Mulcahy, director of competitions for the CGC, said the quality of entrants for the competition, the format for which has been changed to encourage entries across all ethnicities, exceeded expectations.
“Demonstrated by the number of entries that fell into the different categories, and the great names we’ve seen entering from such a diverse audience, the new format has certainly been embraced,” he said. “If we can allow chefs the opportunity to push themselves to their limits, and beyond, we’re fulfilling our commitment to supporting them and encouraging them to learn and aspire to be the best.”
This year's competition will award a prize to top chefs in four categories: Asian/ Oriental; Modern British/ Irish; European (Continental, Central and Eastern, Scandinavian and Mediterranean); African, the Americas and Australia.
One overall winner will then be picked to take the title of National Chef of the Year 2010.
Join BigHospitality on 22 September to see an exclusive video of the semi-finalists in action.
The semi-finalists competing this year, are:
- Simon Atkinson, unit caterer, Royal Marines
- Mark Aust, head chef, Artizan
- Christopher Bell, head chef, Heathcotes Ltd
- Adam Bennett, head chef, Simpsons Restaurant
- Lee Bennett, executive chef, Le Pont De La Tour
- Ian Boden, area development chef, Wilsonvale
- Mark Budd, executive head chef, Stafford Hotel
- David Bush, House of Commons
- Brian Canale, head chef, Heritage Portfolio Ltd
- Simon Christery-French, sous chef, Pearl Restaurant
- Clark Crawley, head chef, Restaurant Associates
- Hrishikest Desai, brasserie head chef, Lucknam Park Hotel
- Richard Edwards, senior sous chef, Lucknam Park Hotel
- Frederick Forster, head chef, 44 Restaurant and Lounge
- Justin Galea, executive sous chef, Turnberry
- Chris James Golding, sous chef, Zuma Restaurant
- Hayden Groves, executive chef, Lloyds of London
- Jim Hamilton, head chef, Fairyhill
- Dean Heselden, head chef, London Clubs International
- Imthiaz Kader, head chef, Park Plaza Westminster Bridge
- Selin Kiazim, senior chef de partie, The Providores
- Palash Mitra, curry chef, The Cinnamon Club
- Robert Oberhoffer, restaurant owner, The Dove Restaurant
- Christopher Oddie, head chef, Mitie Catering and The Irish Club
- Grzegorz Olejarka, head chef, Brooklands Hotel
- Sudha Shankar, executive chef, Saffron
- Hansel Sheldon Fonseca, sous chef, Gordon Ramsay Holdings
- Kuldeep Singh, sous chef, Benares Restaurant & Bar
- Ashley Spencer, lecturer in Culinary Arts, Westminster Kingsway College
- Robert Stordy, corporate chef-lecturer, University of Derby (Buxton Campus)
- Lionel Strub, head chef / owner, Fennel Restaurant
- Dez Turland, group development chef, Brend Hotels
- Simon Webb, head chef, Restaurant Associates
- Nick Whatmough, Head Chef, Restaurant Associates
- Andy Wilcock, head chef, Cucina Restaurants Ltd
- Andrew Wong, chef, Bumbles Restaurant
- Terry Wright, head chef, Compass Group
- Vadivelloo Yogaeshwaran, sous chef, Riverbank Park Plaza Hotel
