The Guild has unveiled the talented chefs that secured a place in the Kitchen Graduate Award and its first ever Pastry Graduate Award heats, which will take place on Tuesday 28th June in London and Birmingham.
For 2016, former National Chef of the Year, Russell Bateman will take the reins as Chair of Examiners and he will work with his team to find the chefs he thinks could make the grade this year.
To pass the Graduate Award final exam, chefs aged 23 and under must achieve a pass mark of 85% or above from a series of skills tests, a theory paper and a mystery basket.
Bateman said: “It was fantastic to see the number of entries rise this year and also see the wide range of establishments that chefs have come from.
“We’ve got talented chefs from Michelin starred restaurants to the House of Commons, and from colleges to a variety of contract caterers. It’s also great to see the incredibly talented list of mentors who will be helping their chefs over the coming months.”
Steve Munkley, founder and organiser of the Graduate Awards, added: “I am delighted that we’ve been able to introduce a Pastry Graduate Award, as this is an area which as an industry we should be promoting as much as possible to improve skills.
It was great to see some of the leading pastry chefs in the UK helping to push this, and we are really looking forward to seeing who our first Pastry Graduates will be and wish them all good luck in the process.”
The full list of finalists are:
Kitchen London Finalists
Feroza Akhtar, The Landmark Hotel
Ben Brooke, Galvin La Chapelle
Erin Jackson Yates, Wiltons
Jake Leach, The Ledbury
Eleanor De Maria, Compass House
Raymond Steplin, House of Commons
Keiron McGarrigle, Westminster Kingsway College
Maciey Rapalcz, Royal Garden Hotel
Laural Taylor, Royal Garden Hotel
Dominic Williamson, Restaurant 56
Amber Francis, The Ritz
Noah Morrison, Galvin La Chapelle
Kitchen Birmingham Finalists
Louise Ellen Roberts, Lexington
Laura Youngs, Feversham Arms Hotel
Jordan Clark, Atholl Arms Hotel
Louis Carey, Sodexo
Ben Garnett-Sinclair, Lusso Catering
Joshua Allen,The Woodford
Lewis Kuciers, Black Bull
Joseph Lloyd, Bodelwyddan Castle
Aaron Middleton, Belmond Le Manor
Dudley Pankhurst, Cunnighams Bistro
Matthew Pryce , Haileybury College
Jack Lively, Sodexo
Pastry Heat in London
Alexis Jiyoung, The Dorchester
Rita Souto, Park Lane Hotel
Sophie Buckmaster, Royal Garden Hotel
Joanna Start, Jigsaw Bakery
Fiona Bailey, The Dragon
Sanjam Napal, Lowry Hotel
Elizabeth McBride, Hix Soho
Kacey Bignell, The Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park
The final exam takes place in London on Tuesday 30th August, with the awards ceremony being held on Tuesday, 6th September 2016.