The champagne corks have been popping today as ten chefs received the incredible news that they have made the National Chef of the Year final. Chefs made this discovery after receiving a bottle of Champagne Collet courtesy of Hallgarten & Novum Wines.

After making the top 40 in the competition last month, the chefs had to create an amuse-bouche or pre-dessert with the theme ‘A taste of summer’ using seasonal ingredients. The chefs were asked to bring this to life with a story of a personal food hero such as an inspirational chef, family member, mentor or industry personality. A new group of judges marked this second-round stage with an overall score for both rounds created to find the top ten highest rated chefs.

This year’s finalists are:

• Adam Fisher, head chef, Pennyhill Park Hotel
• Cleverson Cordeiro, head chef, Frog by Adam Handling
• Craig Edgell, head chef, Buoy and Oyster
• Danny Young, head chef, The Torridon
• Jethro Lawrence, development chef, Apetito
• Lee Tyler, head chef, Meadowsweet
• Matt Ramsdale, head chef, Northcote
• Nick Edgar, head chef, Hambledon Vineyard
• Orry Shand, executive chef, Entier Ltd
• Paul Gamble, senior brand innovation chef, Waitrose and Partners

Murray Cooper, senior sous chef at The Forest Side and Sergio Cinotti, chef from Gem42 have been selected as reserves.

Matt Abé, chef patron at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay said: “The forty semi-finalists didn’t make this an easy decision for us and there was a lot of deliberation to select just ten chefs, but I am confident we have an incredible level of talent cooking for us in the final. The second stage was really impressive with some great storytelling around the food. There’s going to be some amazing menus for us to taste in October and it’s now just about refining them so the dishes are as strong as they can be. This year, chefs have three hours to cook their full menus and I am looking forward to seeing what impact this has on the end result.”

Competition director and food innovation & sustainability director at Sodexo UK and Ireland, David Mulcahy added: “Judging this competition gets harder each year as we continue to attract some of the best talent in the UK to enter. Now this judging stage is complete, we turn our attention to the mentor day where we’ll bring the finalists together to learn from our judges, sponsors and each other. This is such an important element of the process as this competition is about so much more than winning. It’s about building connections, raising profiles and growing as a chef both professionally and personally.”

In the final, the chefs will serve up their original menus from the online entry stage but are able to make small refinements to ensure that they make the best dishes possible on Tuesday, 8th October, 2024. The mentor day will take place on Tuesday 3rd September at the Waitrose Food Innovation Studio. These finalists will also enjoy a VIP event at the Odney Club the evening before where they will have the opportunity to network and learn more about the competition from previous winners.

Essential Cuisine and Lumina are headline partners of National Chef of the Year, which is also supported by Churchill, Continental Chef Supplies (CCS), Evolve Group, Hallgarten & Novum Wines, Valrhona, Classic Fine Foods, Gastronomy Plus and St Ewe. More information about the competition can be found at www.nationalchefoftheyear.co.uk