To earn their place in the final the successful chefs had to compete in a cook-off at Sheffield College or Le Cordon Bleu in London on June 22nd.
David Mulcahy, vice president of the Craft Guild of Chefs and organiser of the competition, said: “This has probably been our most hotly-contested semi-finals to date, starting with an amazing Sheffield heat last week and some closely fought London heats today.
“It was an interesting brief this year which focused on core culinary skills and these ten chefs have demonstrated a high level of skill whilst adapting the brief to their own cooking style.”
As well as competing in the National Chef of the Year final, the chefs will also attend a Mentor Day at The Grove, Hertfordshire on September 5th. Chefs will be presented with a mystery basket of ingredients to be used in the final and enjoy a masterclass with former NCOTY winner, Russell Bateman.
The ten finalists are:
- Danny Parker, Head Chef at House of Tides in Newcastle
- Martin Carabott, Senior Sous Chef at The Royal Automobile Club
- Adam Thomason, Head Chef at Restaurant Associates
- Charles Smith, Head Chef at Alyn Williams at The Westbury
- Liam McKenna, Head Chef at Trump International
- James Devine, Sous Chef at EIPIC
- Paul Foster, Chef Patron of Salt
- Stephanie Coupland, Chef de Partie at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay
- Luciano Lucioli, Head Chef at Lusso – CH&Co
- Kamil Wierzbowski, Sous Chef at Petrus Restaurant, Gordon Ramsay
In addition to the NCOTY announcement, several of the young chefs going forward to the Young National Chef of the Year Final were also revealed. Heat winners Arthur Bridgeman-Quin from the Punchbowl Inn and Ruth Hansom from The Ritz are to be joined by the four highest scoring young chefs from both the London and Sheffield heats, with the remaining YNCOTY finalists to be seeded from other industry competitions.
The four additional YNCOTY finalists were named as Danny Young of Northcote Manor, Drew Snaith from Brunswick House, April Lily Partridge from The Clove Business Club and Daniela Tucci of The Art School Restaurant.