National Chef of the Year Awards are open for entry

Run by the Craft Guild of Chefs (CGC) and the latter in partnership with Knorr, the awards aim to recognise the biggest talents in the industry.

Previous winners of the National Chef of the Year have included Gordon Ramsay and Simon Hulstone.

The brief for entry this year is to submit a creative lunch menu for four guests within two hours and it must reflect one of three categories: Asian/Oriental; modern British/modern Eurpoean; or rest of the world. Further criteria are that the starter must be vegetable-focused, the main must include locally sourced fresh white fish with appropriate accompaniments and the dessert must use summer fruits.

The deadline is 11 April when paper entries must have been submitted to clair.bowman@wrbm.com when a shortlist of 40 chefs will be chosen by a panel of 40 industry judges including Phil Howard of the Square in Mayfair, London. The judges will be looking for a well thought out menu, with particular attention paid to authenticity, sourcing, seasonality, timing and wastage while offering maximum flavour, texture, balance and style.

Semi finalists will be announced on 16 May with heats taking place in June at Sheffield College and Le Cordon Bleu in London. Eight chefs will go through to the final, which will take place at the Restaurant Show on 7 October in London.

Pretigious competition​

"National Chef of The Year is one of the UK’s most sought after culinary titles and has helped launch the career of some of our industry’s most celebrated chefs.  Winning is all about the individual’s performance on the day, coupled with a demonstration of culinary skills and an impressive interpretation of the brief," said organiser and CGC vice president David Mulcahy. "As any finalist will tell you, it’s an exhilarating and rewarding challenge which opens many doors."

The winners of young chef competitions from the British Culinary Federation, the Academy of Culinary Arts Awards of Excellence, World Skills UK and the Craft Guild of Chefs Graduate Awards will automatically be seeded a place in the Young National Chef of the Year final. The remaining four will be made up of the winners of two semi-finals to which up to 20 young chefs from industry-wide competitions will be invited to compete.