Last night, under the watchful eyes of some of the biggest names in hospitality, the Craft Guild of Chefs revealed that Orry Shand from Entier Ltd is the new National Chef of the Year, a culinary title that’s often regarded as the toughest to win in the UK.
Ten talented chefs battled it out in the kitchen at the University of West London yesterday to serve up three dishes that would impress some of the biggest stars of the culinary world.
This included Matt Abé, Aktar Islam, Brett Graham, Gary Jones, Roberta Hall-McCarron, Kenny Atkinson, James Golding, Tom Shepherd, Mark Perkins, Stephen Trigg, James Petrie and Andrew Gravett.
Orry took the top spot with his delicious menu of Turbot from the North Sea with smoky Orkney scallop for starter, Lumina lamb with the Scottish autumn for main course and a celebration of Manjari Valrhona with influences from Asia for dessert. Achieving runner-up this year was Cleverson Cordeiro from Frog by Adam Handling with Paul Gamble who works for Waitrose & Partners takingthird place.
Speaking just after the finals Matt Abé, chef patron at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay said:
“What an incredible array of dishes we’ve tasted today. This year I increased the cooking time from two to three hours, and I feel this has made a huge difference to the quality of dishes that the chefs have put out there. They have had more time to relax, prep and showcase impressive culinary techniques which has resulted in some amazing food. Orry has completely set a new level for this competition. He was outstanding and I know he will be a fantastic ambassador for both this competition and the industry.”
Competition director and food innovation & sustainability director at Sodexo UK and Ireland, David Mulcahy added:
“Each year we attract new faces to the competition and see chefs coming back time and time again. This is always fantastic to see, and we know that the opportunities and experiences that this competition offers makes it a very special celebration of culinary talent. Seeing the focus, dedication and skill from the ten chefs in the kitchen was incredibly inspiring to watch.Congratulations to Orry who is a very worthy winner.”
