Regional Finalists 2022-23

"Miso-marinated" Omi beef and "heshiko," aged fish, have a history of hundreds of years in my hometown. I added the traditional French "hollandaise sauce" and "cherries condiment" to create a new dish. The cherries harmonize the traditional cuisine of both countries. However, if climate change continues, cherries will no longer be available in the future. This shows that while historic dishes can evolve, there is a future where foods may no longer exist.

This dish played a very important role in my life. I took inspiration from the dish Steamed Grouper. We would have this dish every Sunday with my family. This dish is an inspiration to keep me being grounded as a Chef to have a dish so simple but so complex. To remember that food doesn't need to be complicated to taste good and food is always meant to be shared. My dish is a showcase of what I have learned with my experiences without forgetting my Culture and upbringing as a Filipino-Chinese.

My Dish, from a village by Kerala's backwaters, is inspired by where the historic spice route shaped our rich cultural heritage. I aim to BREAK THE SHELLS of outdated mud crab cooking methods, moving beyond traditional curries. I believe every part of the crab can be utilised wisely akin to other types of meat. My signature dish combines my grandmother's traditional flavour with innovative, sustainable twists inspired by my culinary travels in Southeast Asia, highlighting Kerala ingredients.

This dish only uses sustainable ingredients that are locally available in the winter months. When most restaurants are relying on imported produce, local farms are still providing us with root vegetables and apples. On the rocky beaches, the oysters become plump and sweet. I hope to communicate a sense of place and a sense of time, and to show that local eating goes beyond the bounty of the summer months. In the pared-back simplicity of winter there is still beauty and flavour to be found.

This dish is an homage to my personal culinary journey. Being of Chinese Filipino decent, this dish is a culmination of the influence other countries have had on Filipino cuisine. I want to use this opportunity to showcase a beautiful bird sourced locally from Ontario,while flaunting a contemporary version of a classic dish replacing the pork. I’d like to think of myself like this Sinigang dish, a pinnacle of different influences and techniques I've learned from the different Chefs in my career.

This dish is my brainchild of what my soul would look like on a plate, the mousse of the Meat Beliram is a connection to my roots in Punjab and also how I made the move to Canada by packing just my knives and my clothes. The eel is one of the first ingredients I fell in love with. The morels are the abundant wilderness of Canada and the sauce and kachori lend the child in me with flavor's which I grew up as a child, never wanting to be a chef but later loving every bit of it.

Seasonality and regionality play a fundamental role for me when creating my dishes.
Going through the world with open eyes, seeing what nature has to offer, helps me tremendously when creating new dishes.
I want to know where my products come from and how I can use the conditions of my environment for my dishes. Products should find their way onto a plate when they are available on the market in the best quality it can offer. The goal should always be to use the full potential of all products.

This Dish is my Handwriting, it is all the experiences I collected over the years in every kitchen I worked, starting from what my mother cooked for me when I was a child. My Grandma created many dishes with offals, and that was the inspiration for my ragout. I Love to make some old traditional dishes in a new modern way with a touch of Asian style.

My dish should represent the northern Waldviertel and the history of my family. The idea for my signature dish was born in my head from childhood flavours. But I also want to use it to show sustainability and make a statement that you can still cook an interesting style of cuisine using classic techniques.

As I grew up in Saint-Raphael, fish soup had an emblematic place in my family. My father, a fish lover, observed changes in the sea ecosystem: pollution, destruction of the biodiversity and diminution of the quantity of fish. We can’t keep our old habits by cooking without thinking about the consequences. I don’t want to forget the taste of Provence so I invented a new recipe that take into account these issues. More ethical ways can be taken to archive the emotional memory of taste.

As am from a small island called Mauritius surrounded by the Indian ocean, known for its beaches, lagoons and reefs so we consumed more seafood. So by selecting this as my signature dish I am reviving my childhood because I spent most of my early age on the coast fishing and my passion for seafood as I love the smell of the bitter and salty sea water.As the idea of this plate base on sea, in each bite of this dish or side dish you will find different taste sea.

France and my hometown, South Korea are both surrounded by the sea and is a temperate climate where produce, livestock, and seafood abound. My dish celebrates these ingredients and highlight the 4 elements that maintain the delicate balance of life: soil, sea, sky, and fungi. I believe that this philosophy will open my eyes to view humble ingredients in a different light. To keep exploring earth’s offerings by experimenting unique flavor combinations and new ingredients.

The dish represents my whole essence as a cook and as a person. It evokes my Italian-Granadian roots. It is a journey through the 5 senses that reflects my culinary maturity learned so far. At the same time, it aims to show diners the values that represent my cuisine. Love for the profession, respect for the raw material and sustainability with the environment.

With this proposal, what I am trying to do is make the most of a product of such quality as hake. Hake is one of the most consumed foods in Spain by the most humble families. In this dish I use all parts of the hake to avoid throwing waste in the trash. The garnishes are also made with cheap products simulating how poor families would make them. The dish has three preparations using a different part of the hake in each of them.

The dish tries to capture the work philosophy that characterises me in its maximum expression, for this I base it on a traditional stew from Valencia called "All i pebre", always the cuisine of my territory by flag, but drinking from other cultures to enrich the elaborations, in this case with Mexican influence with the mole, the nixtamalisation as an ancestral technique applied to the current cuisine. In short, this dish conveys tradition from a modern perspective of respect for our roots.

What makes a species local, indigenous, alien, invasive, naturalized, or imported to a specific ecology ?How do species, including humans, root in places they are not originally from? I reflect about an invasive specie, the blu crab that over-populates the Lagoon. Reminding us about the colonial history that brought corn from the Americas, I considered the meaning of becoming “naturalized” to local ecologies. I complete by using spontaneous plants that reconnects to the tidal of Venice, halophytes.

This dish represents me and everything I wanted to believe in. I was born in Milan, moved to Ancona, mother Bolognese, father Milanese and Sicilian grandparents This could only lead to my personal split. This leads me to a singular deepening of every part of me, held together at the same time by feelings, passions and personal beliefs. So is my Signature Dish: the ingredients are enhanced individually but even more when combined thanks to the untied sauce.

The recipe I propose represents my path: past, present and future.The eel is the most convivial ingredient of my homeland, cooked by a grandmother who thanks to it was able to gather everyone around a table. present in my Sardinia, worked and structured manages to give new variations. The bittersweet represents my present, the combinations, the olfactory references and above all intrigue with the taste, are the pillars of my current cuisine.

Exotic fruits, barks, medicinal plants, and fish were always there, together with his people, the ancestral communities guardians of their cuisine, traditions, ancient techniques.
Today gastronomy is revaluing this legacy of techniques, knowledge of most big amazonian pantry that is constantly evolving.People who live in the cities feel that the Amazon is a distant topic. But that is not the case, we are closer to it because it is a source of carbon and regulator of global climate changes.

“Mackerel, plantain and coconut” refers to the day to day life of people living in humble seaside towns in Costa Rica, it highlights the value of these undervalued products and a perspective on a simpler way of living where waste is not an option.In these areas zero waste is not a trend but a viable way to feed an entire family. And instead of seeing it as something that limits it can be a source of inspiration for creating unique preparations and finding ways to enhance their flavour.

Alma Patagonia is a creation that captures the soul of Chile´s southern territory. It is a dish that intertwines delicacies from diverse ecosystems, which vary from the depths of the sea, to lush fertile forests. This blend pays tribute to a culture that bases its cuisine on the available ingredients that Mother Earth provides, which must be used fully. Pure nature permeates through a combination of flavors and textures, and surprises the palates of adventurous gourmands.

I advocate, “to make full use of all things and sustainable ingredients."

I selected the specialty ingredient "Yanchi Tan Sheep" from Ningxia, China and local wild leek flowers. Using Chinese and Western fusion cuisine techniques to cook the lamb chops, lamb loin, lamb bones, internal organs and other parts combined with local flavours to form the flavour profile of the final dish. Puna series mineral water is used to cook the Yanchi Tan sheep, this is also the water that the sheep grew up drinking.

When making sauce and stock, I used the stock from making “lamb wrapped with lamb belly” combined with a sauce made from lamb bones. During cooking, kitchen utensils such as wide-mouth pots and pressure cooker are used to reduce the cooking time and to achieve the reduction of carbon emissions, and sustainability of ingredients. Geographical specialty product "Yanchi Tan Sheep" is selected with the intention to be the guardian of pure bloodlines, and to promote all over China and onward to the world.
 

There are many ways to cook chicken in Guangzhou, and as the saying goes: “It is not a feast if you don’t have chicken”. This dish is originally a Cantonese-style crispy roast chicken. Chicken dries out easily because of its low fat content, and traditional methods of roasting or frying at high temperature are not healthy enough, so I use modern low-temperature slow-cooking cooking methods to process traditionally marinated chicken. This resulting chicken is not only tender and juicy, but also nutritious and healthy.

The chicken is stuffed with sweet pea paste and shrimp paste. This is a technique called "stuffing" in Chinese cuisine. One or several ingredients are made into puree and filled with another ingredient. During the heating process, the flavors of various ingredients integrate yet retain their own characteristics. The sweetness of the sweet pea puree and the saltiness of the shrimp bring a fuller taste experience to the chicken. I reduce the use of condiments, and unique original flavor of the ingredients themselves become more memorable.
 

Nature selflessly sustains all things. Cuisine should also be all encompassing – discover China’s local sea habitat and combine different techniques. To realize the borderless-ness and all-encompass-ness of cuisine. Just as the sea is vast and embraces all streams. Three pillars as one. With the ocean, time and the sun as the axis, extending their reach.

Begin with a thousand-layer potato prawn dumpling amuse bouche inspired by the traditional renowned dish Longjing Shrimp. For this dish, Zhoushan prawn, known for its quality comparable to Spanish Carabinero prawn, is paired with white konbu flavoured konbucha and fried moss, and is, unintentionally, a representation of local Chinese culture of enjoying morning tea.
 

During my time spent at Faroe Islands I create this dish with one purpose, to make something Mexican inspired but allowing myself to do it only with local resources but still following the tradition of my culture, and way of cooking.

Adapting a classic street dish like “ceviche and tostadas” to a more defined and detailed idea with technique behind and a mix of ingredients from both cultures.

I think food on these days is about adapting, connecting and evolving like all humans.

Nordic Sea is a dish that focuses on sustainable ingredients. This dish reflects my culinary journey and who I am as a chef today. Combining fishing and cooking is fantastic. Something I often did as a child. Many fish species are now threatened by overfishing and pollution. I focus on cod, blue mussels and seaweed. I use MSC-certified cod from the North Sea. Farmed blue mussels that contribute to a better sea environment and seaweed counteract the negative effects of climate change.

The idea behind the dish is to connect the Bulgarian and Nordic cuisine through common ingredients and procedures. The lamb is common for Bulgaria in Easter and this is written deep into the culture. The piece is either cooked on open fire or braised for long hours, and this is why I use both techniques to represent the original way of cooking lamb, from back in the days. The garnishes representing modern way salad, done by my grandmother, as well as flavorful, creamy fricassee served back home.

My yakitori is a unique take on the classic Japanese dish, combining traditional flavours with Italian and Australian elements and techniques, delivering a dish that is at once familiar, but unique in taste and texture.
Rather than a traditional yakitori sauce, I cured the egg yolk using colatura di alici, before using the latter to create a gel balanced with dashi that has a unique umami flavour.
My yuzukosho draws on fermented jalapeño for a complex umami flavour, lime zest, juice.

I was born and raised in Sichuan, China. With my professional training from Le Cordon Bleu in Australia, I found Australia can be a bridge of combination of two completely different flavours and cultures. I have considered South Australia as my second home, and I love the wide range of fresh ingredients and indigenous products. I want to bring the authentic Sichuanese flavour to South Australia and create my own food style inspired by modern western cuisine in the short future.

This salad is very popular Colombian salad on the Atlantic coast in and we find it with the name clown salad, alluding its name to the bright colors when we mix all the vegetables.
I want to show to the world Colombian’s cousin, and how we integrate the different texture, flavours, colours and techniques from our rich cultural heritage, presenting a popular salad in a sophisticate way.

By presenting this dish i would like to convince people that we chefs are not only people that stand for many hours in front of the frying pan. We can all agree that we identify ourselves as artists. Plates for us are like a canvas for a painter. We create and express ourselves on it. Just like Leonardo da Vinci did and others. It’s not only our work but a big passion for life that we want to share with people in the restaurants like artists share their creations in galleries. WE ARE ARTISTS!

In a world of abundance, we need to look at a more nursing future. Sourcing ingredients has become paralysing for our planet. Due to over-fishing and over breeding, there is a big impact on the bee lives that provide us reproduction, which is necessary for our lives. In my dish, I combined sustainable farmed sea bass, free range pork and ecofriendly bee products from our little country. The dish shows how important sustainability is and also how the elements of nature are and can be connected.

All stories start with ... once upon a time ...
What would it be like this time to start with what it is now? Let's see the present to recreate the future.
Mankind goes through a roller coaster: pandemics, global warming, war, illegal immigrants, and refugees from hunger.
Why did it get here? Maybe the Earth wants something else from us. Maybe we don't understand that there is a message above us. Indeed, we must be able to return to where we should be, in a much better world.

A Chef is someone able to forge a connection between times and who can intertwine the strings of time to create something beautiful. Food is central to our sense of identity. The way any given human group eats helps it assert its diversity, hierarchy and organisation, but also, at the same time, both its oneness and the otherness of whoever eats differently. I wanted to create a dish that reflects my background who couldn't think i would love pigeon.

Through a desire to seek out and understand culture outside of my own, I have been able discover so much about myself and the food I want to create. I am inspired by the flavours/methods of the world, and I want to use what I have discovered by cooking delicious food without boundaries. Ode to Sam Yee is an homage to my partner who has shared her culture with me. This dish combines Chinese flavours with my classically trained French cooking methods. This is about creating new traditions.

This dish signifies my journey , it starts off with my heritage and roots - this being the base flavours of masala, Granadilla and Smokey Braai flavours ( Braai: South African cooking method ) , these flavours represent where my journey began. At the same time showcasing my beliefs of respecting the ingredients and using them with integrity and love , expressing my beliefs through food . My journey was not an easy one , but I made sure it was colourful, vibrate and bold.

This dish represents my love for classic techniques and exploring new flavors while minimizing waste and creating a unique dining experience. I fell in love with Country Ham while living in Charleston, but we never had a good use for all the scraps. Substituting the Country Ham scraps for the more classic dried shrimp or scallops creates a slightly smokier XO that bridges Chinese cuisine and the American South, which is important to me- bridging gaps between cultures through food.

This dish is a story and reflection of my life as a chef;
Typically Banchan (Korean side dish) is a variety of small dishes accompanying a main dish generally reflecting the area they come from. Each Banchan will reflect a a moment in my life through places that I have travelled as well beliefs found along the way whilst maintain my rules and ethics of clean and fair food that’s locally sourced in a sustainable way.
The Six Core Values of my Food
Fire, Clean, Delicious, Refined, Innovative, Tec

This dish represent my years of experience working in this industry, from a local pub or bistro, all the way to fine dining using the knowledge pass down to me from the chefs that came before me.I challenge myself to present a dish with ingredients that a I commonly not work with utilizing different cooking techniques, utilizing ingredients to their maximum minimizing waste, from the trimmings of proteins to the vegetable of stocks.

My dish is an initiation, a journey through a memory, a reminiscence. One day I went with my grandfather into the forest, I was young, that's when nature opened up to me. My dish will tell this story, starting with a simple trace of deer that will be found in my dish, a message borrowed from
l ́essence of a lived adventure.
I want to convey the essential message that we must understand in 2022, what is the place of responsible gastronomy in Switzerland.
 

When someone asks me, what my favorite thing to cook is, I always have to think. In my career I've worked at all stations in the kitchen and therefore I really like to do all kinds of food. I also wanted my dish to be challenge for me and also to be able to show most of my skills. That's why I created this dish. I can show different cooking methods of the parts of the pigeon, and my skills with doughs and vegetables. The whole dish was inspired by thinking about a pigeon in the forest.

“Encouragement” is the theme of my dish, where ingredients, methods and cooking processes reflect the people, who at first glance might seem to be the simplest ones, those hidden behind the scenes. As in life itself, sometimes those elements need a little push to get them on stage, making them realize that they too can reach its fullest explendore.