Restaurant Show's Chefs of the Year
Eurest Services' Terry Wright from RBS London headquarters was acclaimed Compass Group's Senior Chef of the Year at this year's challenge at the 2009 Restaurant Show.
Against seven other finalists his presentation wowed the judging panel led by chef Omero Gallucci. His winning menu was seared pave of cod with baby clam broth, smoked Alsace bacon and sauté cavelenero; honey glazed breast of duck, braised duck leg girolle mushroom farce, served with orange and port jus, fondant potato, carrot pureé, glazed baby onions and shaved fennel; followed by caramelised Bramley apple tart Tatin served with cinnamon ice cream and fricassee of pecan nuts.
Runners up were Simon Webb from Restaurant Associates site KPMG and James Hart from Haileybury College.
Compass's Junior Chef of the Year title went to 21 year old Alex Hagen from Specialist Markets' site Defence Academy at Shrivenham, with his three course menu. Runners up were Daniel Lines from Restaurant Associates' JP Morgan and Katherine Hodges from Chartwells' Haileybury College. 
The award for both senior and junior winners included a cash prize, trophy and one year's membership for The Craft Guild of Chefs, plus they will go on to join the Compass Group UK & Ireland culinary team.
Compass Group's UK executive chef Nick Vadis said: "The Compass Group's Chef of the Year competition is an opportunity for us to showcase the amazing talent of the chefs within Compass, across all of our sectors. This year we had more than 300 entries and we were very proud to watch our 16 shortlisted chefs battle it out at a public event.
"We are committed to developing the flair and skills of our chefs and encourage friendly competition; this competition gives our chefs a perfect platform to show us what they are capable of, regardless of their experience."
Two new contests at this year's show were the Gastro Pub Challenge and the Indian Restaurant Team Challenge.
For the Gastro Pub contest, four pubs had to produce an amuse bouche plus a main and dessert course for 12 covers for invited diners to taste and two for the judges to mark.
The winning team came from the King William pub in Bath – owner Charlie Digney, chef Adie Ware, sous chef Neil Creese and front of house duo Adan Hill and Jason Lynch. They produced lamb three ways, roasted seasonal vegetables with pink fir apple potatoes, cavolo nero and green sauce, followed by hot chocolate pot with fig and toasted hazelnut ice cream.
The Indian Restaurant Team Challenge finalists also had to produce 14 covers in total and the winner was The Saffron Restaurant based in Oldbury, West Midlands. The team led by chef Sudha Saha included sous chef Avijit Mondal and front of house Susanto Das and Aklasul Momin.
Their starter and main course were: Saffron Tikhi Machli consisted of fried spiced sea bass roulade served with apple and pear salsa, tamarind coulis, balsamic reduction and greens. Nalli Gosht was slow cooked spice scented lamb shank, root vegetables and baby spinach poriyal, coriander potato, lamb and lentil curry, served with pulao.
Words: Sheila Eggleston
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