S.Pellegrino Young Chef Iberian & Mediterranean Regional Finals
The competition will be held on the 16th of September 2019 at the W Hotel in Barcelona, Spain.
UPDATE: Discover the Iberian & Mediterranean Countries Region winners of the 4th edition of S.Pellegrino Young Chef.
The ten competitors, mentors and judging panel are announced for the Iberian & Mediterranean Countries Regional Finals of the 4th edition of S.Pellegrino Young Chef competition! This exciting Regional Final will be held on the 16th of September 2019 at the W Hotel in Barcelona, Spain.
Ten Regional Finalists (see below), have been selected by ALMA in accordance with the Golden Rules of the competition. They will face off during a live local cooking competition where each of their respective Signature Dishes will be assessed by a local jury panel, always in line with these Golden Rules. The jury’s decision will be final as they select the best young chef capable of representing the region at a global level.
Apart from the Finalists, there will be a further three awards assigned at these Regional Finals. For the first time in 2019, the panel will judge the young chefs and prize three additional awards on top of the title of ‘S.Pellegrino Young Chef’.
These are: Fine Dining Lovers Food for Thought Award, the S.Pellegrino Award for Social Responsibility, and the Acqua Panna Award for Connection in Gastronomy.
The Local Jury Panel for the Iberian & Mediterranean Countries Region
The exciting line-up this year for the Iberian & Mediterranean Countries Regional Final feature celebrated chefs from Spain, Greece, Israel and Portugal.
Lucia Freitas (Spain)
Lucía Freitas is one of Galicia’s leading chefs. She has worked leading restaurants such as Celler de Can Roca, El Bohío, Mugaritz or Tápies, before opening her own place in 2011: A Tafona Casa de Xantar, in Santiago de Compostela. In 2015 she joined Grupo Nove, which encompasses the majority of Galicia’s Michelin-starred chefs. Her creations are modern, elegant, tasty and show great respect for the raw ingredients, among which top-quality Galician products stand out.
Fina Puigdevall (Spain)
The Catalan two-star chef Fina Piugdevall has dedicated herself entirely to an uncompromising ‘zero-kilometre natural cuisine’. Her restaurant Les Cols (Catalan for ‘cabbage head’) is located in an old country house in Olot, her birthplace in the province of Girona, Spain. She works exclusively with a very particular vision of products that can be found just on her doorstep, in the Northern Spanish volcanic area of Garrotxa.
Henrique Sa Pessoa (Portugal)
The chef is known for the two-Michelin-star restaurant Alma in Lisbon where he serves traditional Portuguese recipes with a contemporary, international twist. He is a popular TV personality as well, starring in many shows, and has a number of other eateries including a high-end burger joint called Cais da Pedra in Lisbon and recently opened Chiado at the Sands Cotai Central in Macao.
Ettore Botrini (Greece)
Ettore was born in Corfu, studied in Switzerland and received culinary training all over the world. In 1999 he followed up his father at the famous restaurant Etrusco in Corfu and in 2011 he opened his restaurant Botrini’s in Athens which received one Michelin star in 2014. Ettore is also known from Greek TV and has received several awards during his culinary career.
Orel Kimchi (Israel)
Chef Orel Kimchi received his culinary education at the Tadmor school, later polishing his craft at fine restaurants in Israel and the world (including Arzak in San Sebastian and Atelier Joël Robuchon in Paris). He was the runner up for the Young Chef of the Year Award at the S.Pellegrino Cooking Cup 2011. In 2013 he opened the restaurant Popina in Tel Aviv where he combines creativity with the best raw materials, and has been heralded as one of Israel’s leading and most influential chefs.
Here is the list of the 10 Regional finalists plus each of their chosen mentor chefs who will guide them throughout the Regional Finals.
André Cameirão, Mentor: Rodrigo Mota Medeiros (Portugal)
Spiros Kasselouris, Mentor: Panos Tsikas (Greece)
Nelson Roque, Mentor: Domenico Ungaro (Spain)
Óscar Dayas Rodríguez, Mentor: Juan Santiago Fuentes (Spain)
Erasmia Balaska, Mentor: Georgianna Hiliadaki (Greece)
Andrea Ravasio, Mentor: Rubén Cabrera (Spain)
Mengxin Zhou, Mentor: David Andrés Morera (Spain)
Manuel Bentabol, Mentor: Pedro Giménez Rodriguez (Spain)
Olga Feferkuchen, Mentor: Asaf Shtern (Israel)
Albert Manso Miras, Mentor: Francisco Jose Agudo Redondo (Spain)
The Finalist chosen from this Regional Final and Finalists of the three awards will be announced on SanpellegrinoYoungChef.com as and when they take place.
Find out more about S.Pellegrino Young Chef 2019-2020 via our social media channels on Facebook and Instagram and by following #Sanpellegrino and #SPYoungChef.
