Northern regional finalists of YCYW contest revealed

The northern regional finals of the Young Chef Young Waiter competition (YCYW) saw four chefs and four waiters - all under 25 – go through to the national finals.

The winner of the chef regional final, held at Darlington College, was Rose Greene from Le Champignon Sauvage, Cheltenham.  Runners-up were Mark Stinchcombe (Lucknam Park), Jenny Thoden (The Church Green, Lymm) and Lahiru Jayasekara (Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons).

Winner of the Waiters' competition was Harald Prock (Mosimann's) with
Catherine Hudson (The Longridge Restaurant, Preston), Daniel Campbell (Number One Restaurant, Balmoral Hotel, Edinburgh) and Peter Saunders (Northcote, Blackburn) as runners-up.

All eight winners now go forward to the national finals which will be held at Westminster Kingsway College on 6 October.

Chairman of The Restaurant Association, Bob Walton, who presented the prizes, said that the standard of entries this year was as high as ever.

He said: "Young Chef Young Waiter continues to highlight the talent that the hospitality industry is producing. With the sills and enthusiasm displayed in the competition, we can be justly proud of the young people who are making their career in the industry.  Young Chef Young Waiter shows that we have talent that is totally determined and committed."

He said that having the waiters compete in a live lunch service with invited guests was a step forward for the competition, making it that much more realistic.

He added that the sponsorship of von Essen hotels and the continuing long-standing support of the Savoy Educational Trust, HSBC, Sodexo,
S.Pellegrino and Wild Harvest, together with new sponsors for 2009,
Laurent Perrier and Matthew Clark, highlighted the importance of the  competition in the industry.

The competition now moves south with the southern regional chefs' final at Thames Valley University at Ealing College on September 16 and the waiters' final at Cliveden,  another in the von Essen luxury collection, on September 17.

Words: Maria Bracken

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