Young chefs named ones to watch at Craft Guild of Chefs Graduate Awards

Open to those aged 23 and under, the scheme requires graduates to achieve a pass mark of 85 per cent or higher in their final exams.

This years' challenge included butchery and fishmongery tests, a mystery basket challenge and the creation of a classic main and dessert.

Reece Cosier, chef de partie at The Landmark hotel London, achieved the highest final mark with a score of 87 per cent.

Two other London chefs - Olivia Baggley, chef de partie at Wiltons, and Drew Snaith, junior sous chef at Brunswick House - reached the pass mark of 85 per cent.

Aaron Duffy, sous chef at Grants Restaurant in Omagh, Northern Ireland, and Charlie Aggett, demi chef de partie at Hartwell House Hotel in Aylesbury, also scored 85 per cent in the final exam.

Awards co-ordinator Steve Munkley, who presented the five chefs with their certificates, said each finalist demonstrated great skills, as well as an understanding of what made great food.

“Every year, I’m truly amazed at the talent we are producing in the UK and this year’s graduates epitomise this perfectly," he said.

“Previous graduates such as Ben Champkin and Luke Selby have gone on to win our Young National Chef of the Year competition and we are looking forward to seeing what this year’s exceptional group of graduates go on to achieve in their careers and in the industry as a whole.”

Launched in 2003, the Graduate Awards are seen as a formal recognition of a young chef’s culinary talent. 

Of the 620 chefs who have entered the awards over the past 12 years just 43 graduates have achieved the pass mark of 85 per cent.