Chef of the Year offers the opportunity for Compass’ chefs from all levels to demonstrate their passion and culinary skills. Hundreds of Compass Group UK & Ireland chefs applied to take part in the competition and were whittled down to just 24 competitors across the three categories, apprentice, junior and senior chefs of the year.
The menus focussed on sustainably sourced fish and British pork, with a brief to reflect local, seasonal and sustainable ingredients.
The senior gold award was won by James Hart from Chartwells, Paul Dunstane from Restaurant Associates took the silver award while Gordon McKenzie from ESS Offshore took the bronze award.
In the junior event Eleanor De Maria from Eurest, took home the gold award. Diandra Beckles, Chartwells won the silver award while Dwayne Marcell of Eurest won third place with bronze.
Nick Vadis, culinary director for Compass Group UK & Ireland said: “Chef of the Year is a great event that showcases the outstanding talent we have in our business.
“We pride ourselves on our innovative and creative food offers and this event is a window into some of the flair and originality we have.
“Everyone who participated deserves huge praise as the standard of cooking was consistently high, especially under such extreme pressure. A big congratulations to everyone who took part.”
The junior and senior chef of the year winners will now travel to New York to visit some of Compass’ sites and search for new innovative ideas and culinary trends.