The first selection of finalists for the 20 world areas of the S.Pellegrino Young Chef 2015 have been made, and the brand today announced that three young, talented New Zealanders feature in the Pacific Top 10.
Thomas Hishon from Orphans Kitchen, Xin Jing of Cocoro and William Mordido of Chikos, were chosen from more than 3000 applications, and will go on to compete in the regional event held at Crown Melbourne Culinarium on Monday 16th February.
“It was a very hard task to select just so few finalists from so many interesting proposals,” said Andrea Sinigaglia, ALMA General Manager. “Having the opportunity to analyse original recipes created by young chefs from all over the world was a thrilling experience, and an incredible demonstration of just how much talent and love for fine food it is possible to find everywhere in the globe.”
More than 3000 young chefs from around the world entered the competition on www.finedininglovers.com for their chance to compete in S.Pellegrino Young Chef 2015, a new global scouting project to find the world’s best young chefs.
Applications closed on 31 December 2014. Entrants were divided into 20 regions according to the geographic area of origin, and ALMA, the world’s leading international educational and training centre for Italian Cuisine (www.alma.scuolacucina.it) selected the first 10 finalists for each region according to five Golden Rules: ingredients, skills, genius, beauty, message.
The 10 talented finalists will now gather to compete in the local challenge on Monday 16 February at Crown Melbourne. A judging panel composed of five independent top chefs will taste each of their signature dishes and select one Pacific winner, according to the five Golden Rules. Expert judges include Jacques Reymond, Guy Grossi, Peter Gilmore, Peter Doyle & Giovanni Pilu.
By the end of February, the 20 best young chefs, one from each region, will be announced and will go on to the culminating event – the S.Pellegrino Talent Awards, 25-27 June, Milan – where they will compete for the title. A panel of seven famous international chefs, including Gastón Acurio, Yannick Alléno, Massimo Bottura, Margot Janse, Yoshihiro Narisawa, Éric Ripert and Joan Roca, will judge and award the S.Pellegrino Young Chef 2015.
