Tony competed against five other finalists in the annual cook off. They were: Louise Roberts, commis chef at Berwin Leighton Paisner; Kevin Macey, head chef at GLG Partners; Javier Millet, head chef at Coca Cola; Alex Rowe, development chef at London Business School and Matt Jaynes, head chef, Cass Business School.
Lexington’s chef director, Rob Kirby, said: “LexChef just keeps on getting better and better, year on year and in every way. The guys did an amazing job, chef Tony’s starter and pud delivered real chefy flavours and demonstrated exceptional technical skills. It was intelligent cooking all round. Bring on next year!”
Winning chef Tony said: “I'm incredibly proud to have won LexChef 2014 and it is the icing on the cake, of a massively enjoyable and productive first year at Lexington. The atmosphere in the kitchen was electric, with great camaraderie – it felt like we were competing with each other, rather than against each other. It was an amazingly close competition and the standards were incredibly high from all the competitors.
Tony’s winning menu included a starter of braised rabbit cannelloni, black pudding, shallots and girolles, followed by roast turbot, crab beignet, fennel, cavolo nero and gherkin ketchup with a dessert of dark chocolate delice, popcorn ice cream, banana caramel and hazelnut. The prize for Tony’s effort was a tasting menu for two, with wine, at Phil Howard’s two Michelin starred restaurant, The Square.