Thirty-two winners named in 2011 Annual Awards of Excellence

The winners of the 2011 Annual Awards of Excellence have been announced, with staff from Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland and Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in Oxfordshire claiming the most awards.

Following finals held at Le Gavroche, Gleneagles and Thames Valley University, 32 awards were handed out in total, across Kitchen, Pastry and Service categories.

Candidates had to score over 70 per cent in a number of tasks set by the panel of judges, which was headed by John Williams, executive of The Ritz and chairman of the Academy of Culinary Arts.

Kitchen Finalists had 4.5 hours to produce a starter featuring razor clams and ingredients from a mystery box; a main of venison Wellington with fondant potatoes, glazed carrots, stuffed cabbage, celeriac puree and a red wine jus; and a modern interpretation of a lemon meringue dessert.

Pastry Finalists had five hours to produce an Easter themed centrepiece and petits fours including moulded chocolates, financiers and fruit tartlets.

Service Finalists were required to decant and describe wines to the judging panel and set up and serve a three-course meal with wines and liqueurs to a table of two.

The winners of the 2011 Annual Awards of Excellence are:

Kitchen

Dimitair Angelkovski, Turnberry Resort

Alastair Clayton, Galvin at Windows

Tessa Clingham, Galvin at Windows

Romain Fouquet, Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons

Ryan Murphy, Turnberry Resort

Jamie Randall, Galvin La Chapelle

Paul Reader, The Royal Household, Buckingham Palace

Adam Reid, Simon Radley at the Chester Grosvenor

Ewan Simpson, Claridge’s

Michael Tweedie, Lucknam Park Hotel

Pastry

Mike Cope, The Gleneagles Hotel

Paul Dickinson, Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons

Stefan Howells, Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons

Aminuddin Shaikh, Pennyhill Park Hotel and Spa

Glen Sharman, Pennyhill Park Hotel and Spa

Service

Sophie Alaimo, The Westbury Hotel

Houssem Belabed, The Gleneagles Hotel

Tina Diefenbach, Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons

Katie Lister, The Gleneagles Hotel

Johanna Marty, The Royal Automobile Club

Lucia Mottarella, Quirinale Restaurant

Rita Nagy, Turnberry Resort

Johanna Naumann, L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon

David Nicu-Catalin, Galvin Bistrot de Luxe

Wojciech Pastor, The Gleneagles Hotel

Caterina Petragallo, The Gleneagles Hotel

Joao Rocha, The Westbury Hotel

Carlota Santos, The Gleneagles Hotel

Louise Schmidt, The Gleneagles Hotel

Burak Sen, The Ritz London

Romain Taverne, Galvin at Windows

Sam Ward, The Ritz London