Matteo Zonarelli Wins the North East Asia Challenge

Matteo Zonarelli has been announced as the winner of the S.Pellegrino Young Chef North East Asia regional challenge, held in Seoul on June 27, and will now advance to the world Grande Finale competition in Milan, Italy in October.

Following remarkable performances by ten of the most talented young chefs of Northeast Asia in the live cooking competition, Zonarelli took gold with his signature dish of 'Sweetbreads, celeriac & hazelnuts'. Pleased with his win he stated; “I’m thrilled to represent Northeast Asia region in Milan”.

The ten semi-finalists signature dishes were judged by a jury composed of renowned chefs—including Vicky Lau, Tony Boy Escalante, Julien Royer, Lanshu Chen, and Jungsik Yim, according to the five principles of the golden rules.

“The Grand Finale in October will be a great opportunity to meet and compete against other young chefs from all over the world. I am happy and very much excited to meet the other young chefs from other regions” commented Zonarelli thinking ahead to the next challenge.