The regional finals took place at Brakes Kitchen in Reading on Wednesday 12th March. The competition, which is sponsored by Bisto by Premier Foods, aims to showcase the hard work of school chefs who create healthy, nutritious and tasty meals for schoolchildren every day.
Asmaa from St Anne's Catholic High School for Girls (Impact Food Group) produced chicken kebab bulgur bread slice salad, beetroot sauce and pesto sauce for her main course. For dessert she made strawberry jelly cake with delight whipped cream.
The competition is the perfect showcase for passionate school chefs to demonstrate what they do best every day. Godfry Gama from the mobile chef team at Juniper Ventures was named as the runner-up in the London heat.
For his main course Mark cooked piri piri chicken, pico salsa, chipotle sweet potato mash, cavalo nero, roasted red onion balsamic glaze. For dessert he produced Sticky toffee banana sponge, butterscotch angel delight, candied orange, caramelised banana, blackberry coulis, freeze-dried raspberry.
At the national final, the 2025 national winner will receive a £1,000 cash prize plus a work experience trip, the 2025 LACA School Chef of the Year trophy and an invitation to a calendar of catering industry events. The national second and third place winners will receive £500 and £300 respectively.
The next SCOTY regional final will be the West Midlands heat, which is taking place on the morning of Wednesday 9th April at Rational’s kitchen in Cannock.