Alex Angelogiannis and Sam Dixon have taken top spot at the National Chef of the Year and Young National Chef of the Year awards, the annual competition from the Craft Guild of Chefs.
In the closest competition the Craft Guild of Chefs has ever seen, Angelogiannis of The Glenturret Restaurant by Lalique has taken the title of National Chef of the Year. Finalists showcased their skills in an intense cook-off at the University of West London under the eyes of some of the leading names in hospitality.
The impressive list of judges was a 'Who's Who' in the culinary world including Kenny Atkinson, Matt Abe, James Petrie, Anna Haugh, Brett Graham, Tom Shepherd and Phil Howard.
To take the title, Alex served up a starter of Line caught mackerel, guts and all. His main course was a best end of Lumina lamb, rib, Coppa and offal dolma, followed by a dessert of Valrhona chocolate & beetroot, lovage and brambles.
Matthew Smith from Inver Restaurant and Cleverson Cordeiro of Frog by Adam Handling finished second and third respectively who will join Angelogiannis on a two-day culinary trip to Liverpool which involves a masterclass by one of the UK's leading chefs, Paul Askew, followed by a private dining experience at his restaurant, The Art School.
In what's deemed as one of the most prestigious accolades for any emerging young chef, Sam Dixon, demi chef de partie, Northcote, has also this week been unveiled as the new Young National Chef of the Year. Dixon's winning menu featured a starter of Norwegian cod, chicken skin, pickled mushroom, hen of the woods, smoked bacon using Seafood from Norway cod. He then served up a main course of Aged Waterford Farm duck, glazed meatball, Ashcroft beetroot followed by a Manchester Tart for dessert.
Second place went to Nathan Johnson, junior sous chef, Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa, with Jonny Smith, junior sous chef, Gravetye Manor finishing in third place.
David Mulcahy, YNCOTY competition director and food innovation & sustainability director at Sodexo UK and Ireland added: "It's important that the Craft Guild of Chefs invests in the young talent we have in our industry and this competition is so important for not only retaining but attracting talent. This is a competition that many chefs have their eye on from a young age and these rising stars get involved in other incredible industry competitions to have a shot at this title. You only need to look at the list of former winners to see what an incredible platform this competition provides. We are really looking forward to working with Sam over the next year and following his career which I'm sure is going to be full of success."
Find out more about the National Chef Of The Year Awards here.
Image credit www.nationalchefoftheyear.co.uk