Richard Abbott, Eurest Services’ chef at the Met Office in Exeter, was presented with the Senior Chef of the Year award for his four course menu consisting of rabbit ravioli, leeks and consommé; red mullet, aubergine purée, ratatouille and basil oil; Creedy Carver chicken, herb stuffed breast and thigh, fondant potato, autumn vegetables, Madeira and lemon thyme jus; and Bramley apple muffin and compote, William pear terrine, kumquat marmalade and Devon scrumpy granita.
Abbott said: “It feels absolutely amazing to win Compass Chef of the Year. This was my first serious competition and I was nervous all day. Since July when we had the heats I’ve been working closely with James Larkins, my regional executive chef, to practise and refine my dishes. The competition was really tight and the other chefs’ dishes all looked amazing.”
Ben Sulston, Chartwells chef at Sevenoaks School, came second and Dan Perea, Instore’s chef at Marks & Spencer, came third.
In the junior competition, Amy Duthie from Chartwells’ at Haileybury school, came top, with runners up being Josh Powell from Eurest Services in second place and Innis Linn from ESS in third place.
Her menu comprised pan fried sea bass with scallop, langoustine and crab mousse ravioli and seafood sauce; poached Hertfordshire corn fed chicken stuffed with truffles, autumn vegetables, confit chicken straws, crispy chicken skin and Madeira jus-lie; and warm cinnamon doughnut, pear cider sorbet, poached pear with toffee and chocolate sauce and mascarpone cream for dessert.
Duthie has been at Haileybury for four years, the last year as a commis chef, and was mentored by 2011 junior winner Lee Warren, also from the school, enabling Chartwells to attain the top spot two years running.
Now in its 12th year, the Compass competition attracted more than 300 entries, with eight senior chefs and seven juniors reaching the final. The young chefs had 90 minutes to create three courses while senior chefs had two hours to create three courses, plus an amuse bouche.
The prize for both competition winners is a study trip to Dubai that includes a 4x4 desert safari, a tour of lead sponsor RAK’s porcelain factory, dinner at Gary Rhodes’ restaurant, and a visit to the Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management and the Burj Khalifa – the tallest manmade structure in the world. The awards were presented by Eurest and Instore managing director Andy Barry.
This year saw the launch of the Know Your Food award, which saw chefs demonstrate their ability to create menus that reflects Compass’ commitments to health, well being and sustainable sourcing. Abbott also won this award, while in the junior competition Gordan Mackenzie from ESS was the winner.
Compass UK executive chef Nick Vadis commented: “The Compass Chef of the Year competition is a prestigious event for our chef teams and the hard work and dedication they put in to prepare for the event is huge. Competition day is therefore always a hotly contested event and this year was no different.
"I am really proud of all our chefs – our rising stars and our more senior professionals – they displayed outstanding culinary prowess with the dishes they produced and demonstrated the exceptionally high standard of food that our chefs deliver.”