Regional Finalists 2022-23

I choose this dish because my mom used to cook this for me and now I cook it for my son. I wan to represent thai heritage dishes in a modern way, to reflect that if the products are treated with love and respect, so the dish will be. I refine the flavours and techniques to elevate it even more, to show the proud heritage of the Thailand ingredients and recipes.

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.

Through this dish, I want to convey the wonderful ingredients and food culture of Japan.
We also thought about garnishing the dish with shiso leaves and myoga, which are commonly used in Japan, and adding the aroma of sea bream skin chips and grilled green onions so that the dish would not become boring in terms of texture and flavor.
We also believe that the soup's consistency can be made easier to mix with rice and sea bream by using rice starch or by adding a little density to the soup.

This dish, in a nutshell, represents who I am. Not only are all the main ingredients sourced from directly here in Canada, but also the techniques used I learned (and tweaked) from all the most important restaurants I have worked. It takes humble ingredients like duck and corn and elevates them to a new level of luxury. Lastly it attempts to blur the lines between savoury and sweet dishes with the use of popcorn and shortbread. Its an artful and fun representation of who I am as a chef.

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.

“Second Generation” expresses my journey as a second-generation Canadian chef shaped by Caribbean and South American roots. Inspired by memories of cooking beside my mother and grandmother soaking salt cod, cleaning live crab, and preparing sorrel drinks, the dish honours the women who shaped me. Through modern technique and personal storytelling, I want to show how heritage, resilience, and diverse voices can help shape the future of Canadian gastronomy.

The dish is intended to convey an honest image of the region, the botanical garden near to the restaurant reimagining the pleasure of traditional ingredients through a variety of preparation methods.
The ingredients can be found in the immediate vicinity. The dish shows the diversity of flora and fauna. To ensure sustainability roots, leaves and innards are used following the approach of ‘nose-to-tail’. It’s intended to promote the sustainable enjoyment of ingredients and create honest enjoyment.

In this dish I want to give a stage to an ingredient that I think is underestimated (the horse) and represent it as much as possible. I take the food of the horse, the so-called soft food and complement with it parts of the animal to present the whole. I want this animal to be culinary understood from beginning to end.

The Char is a fish which lives directly in our alpine lakes in Ladis. So the main ingredient stands for my home town. The char is served in 2 different styles. Once as "Cordon Bleu" and once stained. With the dish i would like to show, that it´s possible to connect typical ingredients and tastes from my home town with tastes and ingredients from all over the world. So the whole world on "one plate".

My cuisine celebrates the dialogue between terroir and travel. I prioritize French ingredients sourced from local producers, while imported products are used only to enhance these local treasures. Through this plant-based dish, I aim to show that vegetables can be both flavorful and deeply satisfying. Celeriac is used in its entirety, elevated by farmhouse miso and tonka bean. The satellite offers a complementary interpretation through different textures and expressions.

This dish revisits a childhood memory and puts vegetables centre stage. Cabbage becomes the main ingredient, while smoked pork belly serves only as a touch of seasoning and nostalgia. With a deeply flavoured, entirely plant-based jus, it champions a more responsible cuisine that questions our meat consumption without sacrificing indulgence or emotion. It also shows that simple, accessible ingredients can create a memorable experience.

Mestizo Tamal reflects my journey as a chef and the heritage that shaped me. I was born and raised in Nuevo León, but my family roots in Mazatlán, on the Pacific coast, deeply influenced my connection to food. This dish represents the meeting of those worlds, blending tradition and modern culinary techniques. It is a personal expression of identity, memory, and growth through cooking.

I am a chef who returned to his origins, and the one I want to become proves that flavor, wellbeing and respect for the sea are a single path. I believe food is how we care for one another — for the people we feed and the sea that feeds us. My Basque grandparents fished in Chile, there I found comunity and learned that to cook is to give care. This dish carries that belief: a humble mackerel caught by hook, cooked with modern-tradition technique, nutrients that heal, nothing wasted.

This dish is inspired by the Sierra Norte of Madrid, a rugged mountain region shaped by sheep farming, cereals and pine forests. Using young lamb and seasonal ingredients, it expresses landscape, memory and a sense of place through a contemporary approach. Each element reflects a different aspect of the region: smoke, fresh herbs, the mountains and the respectful use of every part of the animal.

With this dish I seek to change the focus generated by some products and turn it into something more personal. Using parts of not so common products and plating them in tableware designed and handcrafted by myself.

Growing up in the province of Bergamo with my grandmothers, who were born and raised during the war, they always had the philosophy ‘ the butcher throws nothing away of an animal’. A thought that made me reflect on how many different ways there are to make full use of all that a raw material can offer us. This is why I chose to use a rabbit in its entirety and develop the dish starting with the use of a few kilos of carrots, thus managing to have no waste.

I wanted to find a point that connects my cooking with the place where I learn and found my passion for it, mostly french, japanese and italian. I am naturally curious, and I love to create association with anything, connecting ingredients that are not supposed to belong together is magic to me. I love the contrast of sea - earth dish, swimming into the sea is like a reset button for me, I have a big love for it. I’m completely linked with the earth, I’m grateful for every product that I have the chance to work with.

Migration and Integration
Arriving in a new place is not always easy and even more so it is not easy to integrate and be accepted with your traditions by people with a culture different from yours. The African slaves in Peru in 1800 were able to integrate their spices and traditions to a very important dish in the Inca culture such as the carapulcra.With this dish I want to tell my journey, playing with techniques, shapes and colors to propose the flavors of my land with an Italian twist.

I’m very passionate about gastronomy; my country, its people, and its ingredients bring out the flavors, in each one, of my dishes. Self-expression, for me, comes with every texture, color, and form of each detail. I recognize the importance of my surroundings, my community, and the products distinguished by their performance within sustainability guidelines. I have the responsibility to share with diners the richness, tradition, and culture that Mexican cuisine offers.
I am proud of Mexico.

I chose to develop my cuisine in Cusco because I know that the Andes are a living source of innovation, memory and knowledge. “Cusco desde los Andes” reinterprets the traditional Cusco adobo to show how chillies, corn and tubers can engage with contemporary techniques without losing their identity. As a chef, I want to contribute to a gastronomy that values its roots, gives visibility to its regions and builds the future upon the diversity of its communities.

Chile, a narrow strip with more than six thousand kilometres of coastline, is in the south of the world. Every dish reflects the uniqueness of a country where water is essential, from the mountains to the sea. The biodiversity is influenced by the Humboldt Current. My dish, ‘Cordillera, Valle y Pacífico’, combines goat cheese from Cajón del Maipo, chascudo, mote and conger eel with mushrooms. Inspired by my childhood and the tradition of my grandparents, I dedicate this dish to Victor and Ana.

This dish represents my fond memories and deep affection for the Jiangnan region.The fresh bamboo shoots on the mountains in spring, lotus leaves covers the ponds in summer, golden fields in autumn, and the aroma of cured meats in every courtyard in winter. These are my cherished memories, and I want to share this warmth and beauty through my food.

Every cooking session brings back Jilin’s New Year dishes: guobaorou, braised eggplant and pork skin aspic. With Western, Japanese and French skills, I reinvent these classics.I sous-vide pork loin coated with puffed quinoa, served with umeshu sauce and prickly-pear cold broth. Eggplant comes braised or charcoal-mashed, while pork aspic simmers in bone stock seasoned with soy, chilli and garlic oil.Hometown taste inspires my fusion innovation as a chef.

The dish I present is Peony Yan Cai, a classic Henan specialty once served at state banquets. Following the traditional recipe, I have enhanced it with premium sea cucumber while preserving its original essence. As a young chef from Yunnan mentored by a Henan chef, I see this dish as a tribute to tradition, mentorship and craftsmanship. It reflects my belief in respecting culinary heritage while thoughtfully adapting it for today's diners, bridging northern and southern Chinese cuisine.

Chicken and buckwheat is one of the cheapest healthy meal options that is very common to cook among people in Estonia. However, the way it is cooked is usually very boring and not very pleasant to eat. With this dish, I tried to take these simple ingredients and create something new. I want to showcase that despite the importance of high quality ingredients, chefs are the ones who actually make the difference and create new dishes.

With more than 10 years experience in different countries it took me a second to realize and change mi mindset when it comes to cooking when I landed in Sweden a year ago, all green and good use of resources. My personal goal in my career is to reduce waste as much as possible, we are so many in this planet but most of us don't do enough to minimize our negative impact in nature. I believe we can do so much more and what´s better than start with what we eat in our restaurants?

This dish focuses on solder fish which is one of the largest food sources for many fish species in the ocean. also that is hardly used in our gastronomic. more focused on Nordic ingredients and history with a mix of classic and modern cooking techniques.

Through this dish, I aim to showcase the harmonious blend of traditional Thai flavors with modern culinary techniques. It represents my journey and growth as a chef, guided by experienced mentors. The dish maintains the authentic taste and essence of Thai cuisine while incorporating innovative elements, reflecting a fusion of heritage and contemporary artistry. It tells a story of respect for tradition, creativity, and my passion for bringing a fresh perspective to classic recipes.

This dish reflects my journey from Nepal to Australia and how migration deepened my understanding of Nepalese flavours beyond recipes. Growing up, sustainability, preservation and zero waste were not trends but part of everyday life. Every component is inspired by flavours from my childhood — mustard oil, timur, tea, fermentation and smoke. Through this dish, I reinterpret those memories through fine dining to share the warmth and depth of Nepalese flavours with the world.

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.

The Pig's Alms is a sacred ritual deeply rooted in our country's folklore and tradition, people have forgotten about what it means, it is supposed to be about honoring and showing gratitude toward the animal that has given his life for us to survive. I would like with this dish to bring attention to this lost respect towards nature and what it offers us.The dish's flavours represent my cultural gastronomic heritage and origins, the taste of my home,of my childhood and my memories.

My dish is called Friend's Ear. This is a traditional Hungarian dish. The reason, why this dish is close to my heart is because my Grandmother prepared it a lot for me and my siblings when we were young and I loved it back then, too. My Grandmother is unfortunately dement now and I cannot communicate with Her anymore. I feel like this dish makes us connect again.

This dish is my culinary signature and a tribute to Slovenia. It features ingredients deeply rooted in our land and the collective memory of our people. Reflecting where I grew up and create today, the plate mirrors my evolution as a chef. My goal is to make modern gastronomy approachable, telling a story that is simple yet complex, boutique yet intriguing. Through the lens of the past, these elements narrate our present and forecast a future where modern dining feels like home to everyone.

“Bringing the beauty of this world to the plate” is the message I would like to convey with this ‘pop art’ style dish.My most memorable encounter with the courgette is that of seeding on a courgette farm. This exercise peaked my interest in where produce comes from, how it’s grown and how to best represent that in a dish.The courgette is simple; yet when used correctly, it can add beauty and freshness to a dish.

English Rose is my ode to London and the opportunities hospitality creates. Growing up in a difficult household, cooking became my path to purpose and success. Inspired by the English rose, I transform humble butternut squash into something elegant, showing how overlooked things can flourish when given opportunity. Kept vegan to celebrate its natural flavour, with seaweed providing natural salinity, this dish reflects how hospitality can help anyone rise above difficult beginnings.

With this dish, I would like to invite customers to travel into the summer season and beautiful products we can find in Suffolk, the sea bass comes from a fishmonger who work only with small boats and line caught fish. The cherries and the fennel are local from Suffolk farm This dish is a mix of the sea and country side which represent a big part part of the county identity.

I would like to show my background in culinary arts by showcasing what I’ve learned and experienced in my time in this industry. Showcasing new American cuisine that celebrates all cultures and techniques.

Three Shores, One Table tells the story of the cultures that shaped my identity as a chef. Born and raised in Maracay, Venezuela, with Italian heritage and professionally developed in Miami, I use lamb as a thread connecting memory, tradition, and evolution. Through three complementary preparations, the dish explores how different culinary traditions can coexist, creating new expressions while honoring their origins. It reflects who I am today and the chef I aspire to become: one who builds bridges.

I believe great cuisine is created through balance: honoring tradition while embracing new influences. My foundation comes from French training in Paris, where I became fascinated by the Japanese influence on modern French cuisine, particularly its emphasis on seasonality, restraint, and clarity of flavor. Through peak-season cherries, plums, and duck, this dish reflects my belief that the most meaningful cooking comes from respecting the season and allowing ingredients to speak for themselves.

The first message this dish gets across is a bit of a surprise to most people who taste it as even a simple lettuce plant, if well prepared, can become the tastiest dish on the menu. historically it has no specification, but another important message this dish gets across is definitely that of using all parts of a product, from a to z, from the cooking liquid that becomes a vinaigrette to the daikon waste that becomes kimchi.

Through this vegetable dish, the idea is to show that a simple product can become a complex and flavorful dish on its own. You can get a range of different flavors and textures through lacto, cooking, or the combination of products.

This dish tells the story of my journey through Switzerland. It brings together ingredients from Zurich, the city where I live today, and Ticino, where I grew up. Watching herbs grow taught me to respect nature. Quail and Farina Bóna, on the other hand, taught me the value of local products and the importance of making use of every part of an ingredient. Through the reuse of by-products and leftovers, I enjoyed creating new flavour combinations and discovering new possibilities of taste.