Chefs battle it out to be crowned ‘Eurest Chefs of The Year’ winners

Eurest, Compass Group UK and Ireland’s workplace catering specialist, celebrated its first ever Eurest Chefs of the Year competition last week, at the Compass head office in Chertsey.

Earlier this year, chefs from across the Eurest business applied to take part in the competition, progressing through heats to make it into the final. Six teams then competed in the final event, with each having one and a half hours to cook two courses. They were marked on criteria such as presentation, taste and complexity of the dishes.

Winners, Mohamed Chenoufi; Head Chef and Marek Bryja; Chef de Partie, cooked up a storm with their smoked pan fried supreme of guinea fowl and Jerusalem artichoke puree with heritage cauliflower, shallots, wild mushrooms and a red wine butter sauce. They followed up with a dessert of a classic dark chocolate fondant, served with pistachio ice cream and pear compote.

Winner Mohamed Chenoufi commented: “Competitions like this are great for morale and I’m really excited to go back to our teams and client and tell them that we’ve won. I wasn’t expecting this result, but I think we’ve demonstrated our passion for food and creativity and we’ve learnt a lot in the process too.”

The judging panel was made up of Compass Group UK and Irelands’ Nick Vadis, Culinary Director; Morag Freathy, Managing Director, Eurest; Emma Pearson, Managing Director for Business and Industry; Kerry Crompton-Harris, Head of HR, Eurest; and Jemma Spellacy, Head Chef at a Eurest leading client site.

Emma Pearson, Managing Director for Business and Industry at Compass Group UK & Ireland, said: “This competition is about celebrating the talent within our business, and what an outstanding effort our chefs have made! It’s really inspiring to see the quality food that our Eurest chefs have created and I’m so proud to be part of it. Well done to everyone involved – I’m looking forward to next year now!”

Eurest works with over 250 clients and 550 workplace restaurants and cafés across the UK. Quality in both food and service to enable clients to maximise productivity is at the heart of Eurest’s offer. This competition has been a part of celebrating its focus on food and great people.