Dines Out: Young Chef of the Year

In a few weeks time the Brighton and Hove Food and Drink Festival Awards will be announced at Merkaba in My Hotel Brighton and perhaps the most prized and seriously fought over award will be that of Young Chef of the Year.

Last week I was joined by chefs Ben McKellar of the Gingerman Restaurant Group, Michael Bremner of 64 Degrees and Great British Menu finalist, Billy Humphreys from sponsors Brighton & Hove Jobs and Aaron Thorpe from The Argus to spend a day tasting dishes prepared in competition conditions by the four finalists.

A day tasting dishes prepared in competition conditions

First was George T from the very highly respected Isaac @. His dish of pork was an interesting take on the idea of a traditional Sussex dish. Second out was Rafe Pol from The Set, another of the city’s highly inventive restaurants, and he chose to cook wild mallard, a very seasonal ingredient. Next was Roman Mikulica from Curry Leaf Cafe, a popular and award winning Indian restaurant in Ship Street. Roman, originally from The Czech Republic gave us an Indian spiced sea bass dish. Finally Liam Thorpe from another of our award winning restaurants, Terre á Terre, gave us a complex dish of pearl barley risotto and king mushrooms.

It was a long day with the judges only coming to a decision after five hours of tasting and difficult decision but eventually that decision was made. Of course I cannot reveal that winner now but the full results will be posted here after the event and a hearty congratulations to all four of the finalists for getting that far.

Roman Mikulica from Curry Leaf Cafe and his spicy sea bass dish

George T (right) from Isaac @ and his take on a traditional Sussex dish
Michael Bremner (left) chef proprietor of 64 Degrees, BBC Great British Menu finalist and International Chef Exchange on Latest TV