Fresh Ingredients were delivered from New Covent Garden Market at the crack of dawn and chefs were prepping long before many of the guests arrived at Open Kitchen Live last week.
The aromas circulating the development kitchens must have wafted far and wide and guests arrived early to watch the chefs competing start to cook the various elements that would make up their dishes.
Breakfast is served and who says you can’t grill breakfasts in Combi’s? Rational can!
In addition to seeing all the other processes available from the world’s most sophisticated combination-steamer, Chef Phil Sanderson was on duty early and in no time at all was serving a delightful range of breakfast options from the Rational Combi’s. This drew quite some crowd to see the Rational and chef in action and taste the results.
Breakfast was drawing in an enthusiastic crowdWith two chefs competing and one serving breakfasts at a rate that any fast food outlet would have been proud of it was great to witness the comradery between the chefs. The Rational Combi’s versatility was in high demand as were prep, cook and serving areas but all chefs were keeping a cool head.
Competing on the day were Chef Matt Byne, Director of Food, Just Hospitality who served za’atar spiced mackerel, ancient grains, hass yoghurt, flaxseed and fennel crisps, and Chef Damian Wawrzyniak, Chef Consultant, Chef Director at London Academy of Hospitality Management who served Venison Noisette with Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Salsify, Jerusalem Artichoke, Cauliflower Textures & Umami Jus.
Chef Damian also served venison tartare with wild mushrooms.
Chef Damian’s wild mushrooms for his venison tartare in the pan Chef Damian’s venison tartare is served Chef Matt Byne’s za’atar spiced mackerel, ancient grains, hass yoghurt, flaxseed and fennel crisps Chef Damian Wawrzyniak’s Venison Noisette with Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Salsify, Jerusalem Artichoke, Cauliflower Textures & Umami JusThe judges on the day were Mridula Baljekar author of Great Indian Feasts, awarded Best Asian Cookbook in the world, former Open Kitchen Live winner Chef Ashwani Kumar and Helen Rance, Deputy General Manager, Simmons & Simmons LLP. An enviable task in many ways but quite some challenge at the same time.
When both dishes had been served and tasted we went to meet the judges to find out who had won. All three were unanimous in their choice and were also extremely eloquent in their praise of both dishes, chef Ashwani said ‘both were near perfect and the deciding margin very narrow’. Mridula then summed things up with – ‘being a judge today was a privilege and a perfect day for an ardent food lover’. Praise Indeed!
Mridula went on to say ‘Open Kitchen Live is a great platform for chefs to come together and hone their skills and talents. I feel very fortunate to be involved and learned so much from these top chefs. As a food writer, my journey of learning never stops and Open Kitchen Live, true to its name, has opened my eyes to some wonderful creations. The last 2015 event was even more memorable as I was invited to be a judge. Both Chef Damian and Chef Matt were so calm under pressure and produced such superb dishes, that it was difficult to fault either of them. As always, there has to be only one winner, and it was really hard to pick the winner! I look forward to attending more Open Kitchen Live events in 2016.’
Both chefs were presented with a framed certificate by Jacki Walker, CEO of Equipline who hold the Open Kitchen Live chef events at their development kitchens in Uxbridge. Chef matt also walked away with his prize as the winner, a Bertos countertop fryer.
Winning Chef – Matt Byne, Director of Food, Just HospitalityThroughout the year restaurateurs, hoteliers, publicans, chefs, school, university and event caterers as well as consultants and their clients have come together to see talented, passionate chefs in action. We would like to thank all the chefs that have taken part throughout 2015 as well as all of the guests that have attended. All have played their parts in making Open Kitchen Live an event where people from across our industry come together and share ideas, sample great food and take away new menu development ideas.
We will be announcing our 2016 dates soon.
Open Kitchen Live information is available from our Media Partner HOSPITALITY & CATERING NEWS.
Contact: Denis Sheehan. Telephone Number: 01344 637912 DSheehan@HandCNews.com