Entrants are required to create an oriental menu using ingredients of their choice. The winner will receive a week’s worth of culinary training in Hong Kong.
The competition is judged in two stages: a paper-based entry for the first round (competition entries open 11th January 2016 until 11th March 2016), followed by a competitive cook-off with high profile judges at the University College Birmingham on Wednesday 13th April 2016. The winner will be announced at an awards dinner following the cook off.
Gemma Field is the current titleholder of the Wing Yip Oriental Cookery Young Chef of the Year competition.
Pastry chef Gemma, who studied at the same college where she fought off 15 national competitors in February 2015, took a trip to Hong Kong in October, as part of her prize.
She said: “Winning Young Chef and a trip to Hong Kong was an incredible experience that I’ll never forget. It really enabled me to broaden my culinary knowledge and add a new set of skills to my CV.
“While in Hong Kong I experienced chef life at lots of places including Disneyland, a local culinary college, and the Hong Kong Jockey Club, which was by far my favourite placement. I thought chefs worked long hours in the UK, before I went to Hong Kong!
“My favourite experience was browsing the markets and seeing all the crazy and varied ingredients – I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Gemma works at Birmingham-based event catering company Amadeus, at the International Convention Centre Birmingham – both part of the NEC Group. The ICC offers high quality food and services to around 300,000 delegates that attend events there each year.
The 2016 competition closes for entries on Wednesday 16th March 2016. To download an entry form, visit www.wingyip.com/young-chef