David Joyce has been named Aramark’s Chef of the Year Ireland beating off stiff competition to claim the prestigious title at Food and Bev Live, Ireland’s biggest food, drink and hospitality event held in the City West Convention Centre.
The highly competitive annual awards are open to Aramark Catering chefs from throughout the island of Ireland and are judged by an expert panel of chefs. This year’s judging panel included Irish Michelin-star-winning head chef and co-owner of Chapter One Restaurant, Ross Lewis. Mr. Lewis was joined by Brendan O’Neill, Executive Director Panel of Chefs Ireland, Aramark’s UK Culinary Director, Paul Bloxham and Derek Reilly, Aramark’s Ireland’s Culinary Director.
The intense competition saw eight chefs compete live on the day to develop an innovative menu of dishes using wholesome ingredients. David Joyce was awarded the title Aramark Chef of the Year after he impressed and delighted the panel of judges with his mouth watering dishes of glazed pollock with a warm salad of brown shrimp, cauliflower, gnocchi, brown butter and vodavon. Desert was chocolate marquise with pistachio ganache, chocolate soil, raspberry sorbet and raspberry gel.
David Joyce is the Head Chef of St. Patrick’s University Hospital. He has been a chef for almost eight years having started his career in The Dawson. He is trained mainly in fine dining and gained invaluable experience training in restaurants such as Chapter One and Bijou Bistro.
Winner Aramark Chef’s Cup David JoyceThe award was presented by Shane Flynn, Managing Director of Food Services Ireland who said: “Once again we have been very impressed at the high standards each of our finalists has shown throughout this competition and David is a most deserved winner. Participating in the Chefs Cup is an excellent opportunity for our chefs to demonstrate their culinary talents and professional skills. I congratulate all those who participated today for their outstanding achievements.”
Shane continued, “Our mission is to deliver experiences that enrich and nourish lives. We understand that food is to be enjoyed and savoured and that is why we always strive to create innovative dishes and flavorful taste experiences for our clients.”
Derek Reilly, Aramark Ireland’s Culinary Director said; “This year’s competition has been the best standard we have experienced in years and it clearly highlights the incredible level of talent and skill we have in Aramark. All of our chefs prepared some fantastic dishes and of course we are delighted that David managed to come out on top.”
Mr Ross Lewis said “The annual Aramark Chef of the Year competition is a fantastic recognition ofthe great work being undertaken by the chefs in Aramark and I was delighted to see the very high standards on show here today”.
David Joyce will now represent Ireland at the Aramark’s European Chef’s Cup which will take place in Barcelona. There, David will face tough competition from fellow country winners from across Aramark’s European network as they are each tasked with creating a winning three-course menu from a list of specified ingredients.