This year, the UK & North Europe region encompasses the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. ALMA are in charge of candidate selection and they looked for technical skills, creativity and personal belief in the transformative power of gastronomy.

Andrea Sinigaglia, general manager of ALMA, said: “We have had the pleasure of collaborating with S. Pellegrino Young Chef since the very first edition, and every time we are amazed by the variety of ideas and the great passion shown by the candidates.

“For this edition we selected 135 young talents and we are excited to see how they will perform first on a local, and then on a global scale. Good luck to all of them!”

A jury comprised of independent judges will select the winners for the four awards, including S. Pellegrino Young Chef Award, the Fine Dining Lovers Food For Thoughts Award, the S. Pellegrino Award for Social Responsibility and the Acqua Panna Award for Connection in Gastronomy.

By the end of December 2019, the young chefs from each of the four categories from around the world will move on to the Grand Finale (held in June 2020).

The finalists from the UK & North Europe region include:

• Oliver Serve of Grand Hotel Oslo (Norway)
• Pippa Lovell of Little Fish at the Bay (Man Island)
• Nicolas Fagundes Galindo of Chapter One (Ireland)
• Liliana Haaland of Frilands (Norway)
• Joshua Wilde of The Coach Marlow (UK)
• Thilda Martensson of Grand Hotel Saltsjöbaden (Sweden)
• Arlen Ortega of One Pico Restaurant (Ireland)
• Luuk Hoffman of Frunk (Netherlands)
• Rik Veen of De Lindehof (Netherlands)
• Jerome Lanmark Calayag of The Ledbury (Sweden)
• Rasmas Bundgaard Nielser of Bundgaard Food Consulting (Denmark)
• Gerard Villaret of De Librije (Netherlands)
• Friso Van Amerongen of Rijks (Netherlands)
• Timothee Martin of The Greenhouse (UK)
• Andrea Vailati of The Ledbury (UK)