Regional Finalists 2022-23

Malaysia, Taiwan, and Singapore are the places influenced me the most. Through this dish, starting from the broth, it's like starting a new journey into the unknown, mist yet exciting; followed by the snack, when you walk into the wood somehow can see delicate food prepared by the nature; and last is the main, you enter the heart of the wood and much more things to explore, which just like our culinary journey. I want to set new trend that how different backgrounds can create interesting story.

When I began cooking about 15 years ago, my mother was ill. I prepared a meal for her, and she shed tears for the first time. In that moment I realized food I make can bring happiness and emotion, and I decided to become a chef. I believe food has great power. Cooking can be tedious, but imagining someone enjoying my dish turns it into joy. A sincere meal comforts tired days and becomes a lasting memory.I cook each plate with heart,hoping it brings happiness and warmth,and makes the world warmer

Through this dish, I express Japan’s Satoyama culture, a way of life rooted in the coexistence of people and nature. Festivals, prayers for abundant harvests, care for the environments that provide food, and cooperation within rural communities are values deeply embedded in Japanese society. As a chef, I believe cuisine must begin with an awareness of the ecosystems that sustain our ingredients. Satoyama is a philosophy I wish to share with the world and a model for the future of cooking.

This plate is a representation of my core believes as a Chef, cooking with nostalgia, locally raised ingredients that are of great quality and treating them with care. The locally sourced rabbits is paired with carrots, Hen of the wood mushrooms, Swiss chard- all grown in and around the city, this is probably what the rabbit ate for dinner! The whole animal is used in the dish giving it all the respect it deserves and a true display of what food systems in the industry.

In the kitchen, we throw away the unloved and unsaleable offal of lamb. Stunned by this vision of non-valuation, I wanted to honor it. I drew inspiration from the wild northern Canadian landscape that became my home 9 years ago, and from the terroir of my native southwest France, which brings back warm memories. With my dish, I want to enhance the value of this country-style cuisine, with a modern twist that's both technically raw and delicate, to give offal back its nobility.

I am originally from China, my cooking philosophy is using French, Italian, and Japanese technique to showcase Chinese favor, modern Chinese food. In Chinese Sichuan cuisine, we will use rabbit as one of the main proteins. One of the most popular dishes in Sichuan cuisine is stir fry rabbit with Sichuan pepper and peanuts. I am using French technique to wrap rabbit meat, Chinese sausage, foie gras to make rabbit ballotine.

I want this dish to express how Mexican cuisine can evolve without losing its soul. Through corn, achiote, and carefully layered sauces, I tell the story of my journey across different countries and kitchens, learning to adapt while staying connected to my roots. The dish reflects transformation, migration, memory, and the dialogue between tradition and contemporary technique, showing that identity can remain strong even when it changes form.

This dish symbolises the union of Latin American and Bavarian traditions, reflecting my culinary journey. By blending these rich cultures, I create a bridge that unites people through food. It represents my passion for merging vibrant Latin American flavours with hearty Bavarian comforts, celebrating the unique histories and identities of both. This fusion cuisine showcases my belief that food can unite diverse worlds. My philosophy of honouring traditions while creating harmonious experience

My dish reflects my connection to my homeland, reinterpreted in a modern way.

I want to honor the resources that the world provides us through sustainable action. For this reason, among other things, I chose a veal head, a cut that is often considered "unknown," and aim to transform it using refined, high-quality, and precise techniques.

For me, the future of cooking lies in treating ingredients with respect and making use of every part of them.

Heritage expresses my belief that the future of cuisine is not only about innovation, but also about preserving knowledge. Chicken, a universal ingredient shared across cultures, is the foundation of this dish. A whole chicken is separated, each part transformed through a different technique, and reunited on a single plate. This process reflects the essence of French cuisine: understanding an ingredient, transforming it, and creating unity from diversity.

I would like to express my technique and all the skills I have learnt. I've travelled a lot but I'm still connected to Brittany, my home region, even though I've left. I'm very attached to it. Now that I've settled in the Ardèche, my dish represents both, the saltiness of Brittany and the technique of Royans raviole. I'd like to show you that I can present something that is extremely simple at first glance, even though all the fillings in it are complex.

This dish is a memory of my childhood Sundays. I transformed breadcrumbs into 'pasta crumbs' to evoke the scarpetta I’d do in her Piennolo tomato and nepitella sauce. The pulled rabbit meatball, breaded in dried pasta powder, recalls how she would shred the finest meat over my pasta by hand. The dish is completed by the soffritto, the soul of Naples, and a herb-crusted rib that captures the true essence of the rabbit.

This dish was born from my desire to reinterpret one of Aragon’s iconic ingredients and bring it into the world of fine dining. Aragonese trout is at the heart of the dish, reflecting my commitment to the region and its producers. My goal is to show that true culinary luxury lies in celebrating local origins, elevating regional ingredients and giving them the recognition they deserve through technique, respect and creativity.

The origin of the techniques and flavours of this dish come from the city where my surname comes from, from an emblematic family who to this day represent historical flavours and maintain their roots, and above all from the great use that this region has made for centuries of the natural resources of its geography, such as rivers and countryside, where they ate from their own vegetable garden. This is a tribute to them.

My favorite part of my childhood is the sea so that was my main inspira tion for this signature dish.I really want to transmite the ocean to everyone who tries the dish, especially because I'm from Viana do Castelo and we have several tradition related to the sea as getting up early and going to the beach to get seafood from the rocks.I remember the first time I tried a sea urchin, 100% sea.I want everyone to feel that flavour, that memory and get to know better Viana do Castelo by this dish.

The First Step tells the story of a personal return. After years spent moving between kitchens, countries and experiences, I realized that growth does not always come from going further, but sometimes from stopping and rebuilding. Through the five fundamental tastes, this dish expresses comfort, tension, transformation, maturity and balance. It is a tribute to my territory, my identity and the foundations of the chef I want to become.

I chose baby goat, because in addition to liking it a lot, it was the first animal I cooked in my first work experience, we used to stew it with potatoes without any knowledge of the various cuts of meat, it was cut into pieces and cooked in a pot. With this dish I would like to encourage many young people like me who come from experiences like mine, that with study and perseverance you discover other ways of presenting a cut or an animal in general.

The memory of an emotion lives on in this dish. It takes me back in time, to when my mom used to prepare it in our family restaurant. At the same time it allows me to look ahead, in search of new paths linked to my ideas of sustainability with little waste. Questioning memories to create my interpretation, in full respect of raw materials. The dish talks about who created it, where it started from and what it wants to tell.

This is an expression of love, honour, affection, subtlety, wisdom, passion and, of course, legacy.
The dish reminds me of my childhood, when at harvest time, mum and dad used to take me and my siblings to harvest the corn cob, remove the amero (corn husk), shuck it and grind it to make envueltos. These wraps had curd in them and we used to accompany them with sweaty fish called catfish and our beautiful Colombian sauce, hogao (sofrito).

This dish is rooted in my heritage and in a tradition that forms part of my identity. The years I spent in Italy reconnected me with my childhood, pasta, the countryside and traditional butchering gatherings. Through the cappellaccio, puchero consommé and fermentation, in this case, broad bean miso, I seek to bring memory and contemporary expression together. After travelling the world, I came to understand that Argentina is often associated only with meat. I therefore want to showcase the richness of our thousands of kilometres of coastline and the potential of Patagonia through Argentine robalo, caught using artisanal methods suited to its behavior in the South Atlantic.

My grandfather is from Chocó, my mother from Neiva and my father from Manizales; I was born in Bogotá and raised in Cali. I can therefore say that I am a man of Colombia, one who has discovered the world of cuisine through the lens of his roots and experiences. In my dish, I use ingredients and preparations that are part of everyday home cooking: hormiga culona from Santander, cassava bollo from the Caribbean, cimarrón from the Pacific, heart of palm from Putumayo, and pirarucu and katara from the Amazon, alongside my interpretation of pachamanca (cooking underground).

The dish presented by Alchemist restaurant, calling for a reduction in ocean plastic, has inspired me and made me realize that ocean pollution is not far from anyone. I live in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, a coastal city with abundant seafood resources that is also affected by pollution. Therefore, I hope to use my dishes to raise awareness and urge people to protect the ocean.

Word of umami in Chinese is combined with fish and lamb,so in China we have a famous dish called yuyangxian,using fish and lamb to make soup.To represent this dish and showing the skills i’ve learnt from different style of cuisine(especially French&Italian), i made this dish in 3parts by using local lamb and golden loofah of my hometown Chongming island.Presentation comes from the memory of childhood that my dad bring me to catch fishes in river and have picnic near the place sheeps live.

This dish is a conversation of humble roots & cuisine’s inclusive power, as I’m from the “wrong side of the river” in rural Shanghai & trained on the Rhône in Lyon. Vol-au-vent & Kousansi share a Chinese superior sauce brewed of Acqua Panna, topped with upcycled tuiles patterned from Song Dynasty art. I believe, in our divisive era, cuisine bridges cultures and nourishes innovation with understated depth & radical earnestness, respecting ingredients & welcoming all to drink from a shared well.

I would like to just honestly share my idea for this competition. I understand that not everyone that applies will participate however it does not mean I could try and share my journey to San Pellegrino, perhaps worldwide.
This dish represents my memories of my grandmother that I wanted to give my twist on. I applied lessons that I learned throughout my culinary journey that hopefully tells the story and what I am still willing to learn.

I am a chef driven by curiosity, and respect for ingredients. Today, I shape my identity through Nordic flavors and technical performance. In the future, I aim to become a chef who unites craftsmanship and sustainable, creates experiences that move people, and contributes to pushing gastronomy forward.

Cod on a Journey reflects my path as a chef. Rooted in Slovenian tradition yet driven by curiosity, I explore new cultures, techniques, and cuisines while respecting ingredients in their entirety. My dish is influenced by my belief in a head-to-tail approach. Through Slovenia, my heritage, Japan and Spain, a wish for my future, and Denmark, my present, I showcase every part of the cod, a dish that celebrates heritage, learning, and the journey that continues to shape me as a cook.

“Before Sustainability Was a Trend” reflects how Asian food cultures have long embodied sustainability through preservation, seasonality, and respect for ingredients. My selection of ingredients and techniques aims to reinterpret these principles while being guided by my Asian heritage and Australian upbringing. Highlighting biodiversity, whole animal utilisation and cultural continuity through combining old and new is how I hope to shape a more conscious future as a chef now and moving forward.

In New Zealand we have a large number of introduced pests like wild deer that damage our native flora and fauna. By using wild venison we can create an economy for conservation by giving a financial incentive for the pest control. Hunters can sell the meat and chefs can utilise a delicious clean natural protein in the kitchen. I want to show a way to use the whole animal by ulatising the offal & bones in an approachable way for customers. The more we sell creates more money for conservation.

As an immigrant, moving from South Korea to growing up in Ireland, one of the challenges was the cuisine. I went from having rice with lots of different sides (banchan) such as kimchi, to having a meat and two vegetables. One of my earliest food memory is going to my friends house and trying bacon and cabbage. I remember the boiled salty pork and the sautéed cabbage with mustard and some steamed potatoes with butter on top. So I wanted to do a dish that combined the two different cultures.

Does chicken feet belong in fine dining? I'm from Međimurje, a county in northern Croatia where nothing is wasted, every ingredient has value. Through my girlfriend Candace, I discovered Guyana and Guyanese food embodying the same spirit. Our meals are carb heavy for a reason: our grandparents needed energy to work outside in fields. The connection became ""Poor People's Fine Dining."" My belief is, the value of food is not determined by its cost, but by stories, traditions, and respect behind it.

As a young Israeli chef, I believe deeply in the principles of zero waste and seasonal cuisine. These beliefs not only guide my culinary work but also reflect my commitment to sharing and respecting the natural world. My dish, "Pumpkin, Spice & Everything Nice", is a testament to these values,  combining tradition, innovation and responsible cooking.

Influence of different cuisines from where I learned becoming French and Spanish my biggest influence, without leaving aside the importance of ingredients, traditions, and heritage of my country, Ecuador, taking care of local producers and craftsman, always taking full advantage and respect for the product with a touch of modernity, creating an experience of textures and sensations in each perfect bite.

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.

As a Korean chef in London, this dish reflects my identity. In this diverse city, culinary boundaries dissolve, blending local UK ingredients with staples from my homeland. Signature ingredients like kimchi, Korean miso paste, Jeju bracken, and Makgeolli create a fusion that's both familiar and innovative. This dish also showcases the seafood expertise I've developed as a fish chef. From precise techniques to selected marinades, every element shows my dedication and passion for seafood cuisine.

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.

Through this dish, I aim to express a harmony of flavors and cultures, celebrating the versatility and richness of plant-based ingredients. The blend of beet root with lactofermented strawberries and blueberries highlights the art of fermentation, an age-old preservation technique. The spices, wine, and agave syrup reflect a fusion of global culinary traditions. Accompanied by the refreshing tomato water and the vibrant foam made of fermented fruits, An example of my culinary identity.

By celebrating the products and cuisine of the Chesapeake Bay I hope to generate interest in its preservation. Oysters in particular are an iconic Chesapeake Bay species that have been decimated, like many other native populations, by habitat loss, poor water quality and harvest pressure. The modern Chesapeake pantry must reflect current sustainable harvests and farmed oysters exemplify this expectation. Chesapeake chefs must adopt this pantry to maintain the watershed's rich culinary tradition.

I see the future of cooking as an act of respect for those around you. Care and community are often lost now, but amongst chefs, it will never cease. I believe my role as a chef is to cook honestly, respect the integrity of the ingredient and to share the joy of cooking with as many people as I can. This dish draws inspiration from all that have given me the gift of knowledge, nostalgia and practice. With this dish I hope to honor those gifts and create new experiences as such for others.

I created these dishes by reminiscing about the morning's picking. The first thing we did in the restaurant before setting off to pick mushrooms was to drink our coffee. I made my first plate with mushrooms, coffee and chocolate, with a few crisps to remind us of our foraging trip. My second plate is to take you with me on a foraging trip, to walk in the forest and find all the things you can find in the woods.

“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.

My goal was to work with amberjack in its entirety, creating a culinary journey dedicated to a single ingredient. Through ikejime, sukibiki, and maturation, I work the fish in its entirety to reveal its full potential. My approach enhances exceptional products through precision, respect, and innovation. I believe the future of our profession lies in a cuisine that is thoughtful, sustainable, and deeply connected to craftsmanship and flavor.