Sydney Chefs rule in National Culinary Award
/Giles Gabutina, and Alessio Nogarotto, who both work at Bentley Restaurant & Bar, have been crowned the national champions of Australia’s longest running and most credible culinary competition for young chefs.
The National champions out-cooked a host of new culinary talent at the finals of the 2019 Nestlé Golden Chef’s Hat Award at Fine Food Australia.
The Sydney chefs impressed the judges with their winning menu taking home silver medals for their entrée and main courses and gold for their dessert course.
The golden pair particularly impressed the judging panel with a standout dessert course of roasted and glazed pears with crème fraiche and citrus parfait, pear and burnt butter emulsion, toasted olive oil cake with a bitter citrus and fennel infusion.
The National champions were awarded a $15,000 culinary trip of a lifetime to North America.
The first time competitors who thoroughly enjoyed the competition were thrilled with their result and proud to represent their home state.
“We are totally shocked but so happy with the result, we definitely exceeded our own expectations! There were a few hiccups at the start of the competition but once we got cooking everything just kind of fell into place. We were really happy with what we produced and it’s great to see that the judges liked it too. It’s been an amazing experience from start to finish.”
Executive Chef at Nestlé Professional, Mark Clayton says, “Each and every competitor performed to an exceptional level. They were focused, determined and pushed themselves to deliver some outstanding dishes. The future looks bright for these young chefs. ”
Celebrating 54 years in 2019, the Nestlé Golden Chef’s Hat Award exists to support the country’s top emerging culinary talent and has helped develop the careers of over 7,000 talented young chefs since its inception by providing young chef talent a platform to create new opportunities, learn valuable skills and connect with peers in the culinary industry.
