{"id":66393,"date":"2015-02-24T00:43:49","date_gmt":"2015-02-23T22:43:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=66393"},"modified":"2015-02-24T18:45:45","modified_gmt":"2015-02-24T16:45:45","slug":"chefs-warehouse-canteen-chef-angelo-scirocco-s-pellegrino-africamiddle-east-young-chef-2015-finalisti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/chefs-warehouse-canteen-chef-angelo-scirocco-s-pellegrino-africamiddle-east-young-chef-2015-finalisti\/","title":{"rendered":"Chef’s Warehouse & Canteen Chef Angelo Scirocco S. Pellegrino Africa\/Middle East Young Chef 2015 Finalist!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Young<\/a>As a writer I receive invitations to many special events. \u00a0Yesterday’s Africa\/Middle East finals of the S. Pellegrino Young Chef 2015, held at the SA Chef’s Academy, was one of those memorable events, particularly as the nine finalists no doubt will become the future top chefs of our country and of Dubai.<\/p>\n

Originally ten finalist chefs aged 30 years or younger were selected to represent Africa and the Middle East. Chef Eka Mochamad of the Pepper Fine Dining Restaurant at Jumeirah in Dubai had to withdraw due to the early birth of his child. The nine finalist chefs were from Johannesburg, Cape Town, Franschhoek, Stellenbosch, and Dubai, many meeting for the first time at the competition. The \"Young<\/a>competition cooking was managed by SA Chef’s Academy Paul Hartmann, whom I met for the first time, a mine of useful information as to chef movements.<\/p>\n

We were welcomed by Sandra Husseini Norberg from San Pellegrino Middle East & Africa in Lebanon, who co-ordinated the judging of the Africa\/Middle East leg of the competition on behalf of Fine Dining Lovers. \u00a0The three judges were Chef David Higgs from five hundred at The Saxon Boutique Hotel, and an Eat Out<\/strong> Top 10 Restaurant winner whilst he was at Rust en Vrede; \u00a0Joe Barca from Lebanon, best known for his \"Young<\/a>Top Chef TV show; and Uwe Micheel of the Radisson Blu Hotel Dubai Deira Creek. \u00a0They conferred in one of the rooms, and each chef had to present his\/her dish to the judges. \u00a0I asked the finalists about their interaction with the judges, and there seemed to be few questions and little talking with them. \u00a0Once the dish had been presented to the judges, the finalists plated small tasting portions for the guests, to allow us to vote for a People’s Choice dish.<\/p>\n

The winning dish, as judged by the judges, and also the People’s Choice winner, was entitled ‘Milk is Thicker than Water’,<\/em> and created by Chef \"Young<\/a>Angelo Scirocco of Chef’s Warehouse & Canteen, who has a fantastic mentor in Chef Liam Tomlin. \u00a0Yesterday morning Chef Liam posted on Facebook a bolchy prediction which came true: ‘A very confident Angelo arriving at the SP young chef of the world completion. So proud \"Young<\/a>and wishing him the best. Next stop Milan<\/em>‘. \u00a0Chef Angelo’s dish was most unique and unusual, in its focus on milk, with textures, and reflecting old school cooking, he said. It consisted of elderflower panna cotta, strachiatella mozzarella, vanilla and cardamom rice pudding, buttermilk ice cream, and meringue shards, the plate being placed on a straw base. \u00a0He was down to earth, and very grateful to Chef Liam, who had lent him the plates and who had been a sounding board for him in developing his dish.<\/p>\n

The second best dish was ‘Tribute to a local Lamb<\/em>‘, created by Chef Rahil Rathod of \"Young<\/a>Radisson Blu Hotel Dubai Deira Creek-Boulvar. \u00a0Chef Rahil came to chat, and told me that the dominant Moslem population eats lamb. \u00a0His dish honours the old world and new world in the flavours he created in his dish, and uses lamb rack, loin, shoulder, and sweet breads. \u00a0 I asked him what he thought of Cape Town, after 24 hours in our city, and he said he was most impressed with our mountains, as he was driven from the airport to his city hotel.<\/p>\n

\"Young<\/a>Third place winner was Vusumuzi Ndlovu of five hundred at The Saxon Boutique Hotel, who laughingly said that Chef David is a tough boss, who knows what he wants. He is a fair judge, Vusi said. He\u00a0started cooking at The Sheraton Hotel and Towers in Pretoria. \u00a0He was a member of the South African Culinary Olympics team in 2012. Vusi’s dish was Angus Beef with oysters, charred asparagus, a hollandaise sauce made with bone marrow, and a pine dressing.<\/p>\n

The other dishes presented to the judges were the following:<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 ‘Preparations of Quail’<\/em> by Chef Constantijn Hahndiek of the OSA Restaurant at\"Young<\/a> Fairmont Zimbali, whom I had met whilst he worked at Caf\u00e9 BonBon in Franschhoek. \u00a0He is moving to Hartford House next month, exciting news for the young talented chef. \u00a0His finalist dish reflects basic classic cooking techniques with pure simple cooking, utilising only a few basic ingredients, he says.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 \"Young<\/a>Parma-wrapped slow cooked rabbit, palm sugar Szechuan rabbit liver br\u00fbl\u00e9e, and pumpkin seed gremolata, prepared by Chef Darren Badenhorst of Grande Provence. \u00a0His cooking style is adding an Asian twist to classic French cuisine. \u00a0Chef Darren told me that he chose rabbit as it is an unusual meat to present, to which he added duck and rabbit liver, as well as foie gras. \u00a0Chef Darren said that the competition has given him tremendous exposure on radio, TV, in newspaper articles, and in blogposts.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 ‘A Tropical Plate’<\/em> by Chef Amor\u00e9 Botha of the Twelve Apostles Hotel. \u00a0She won the Unilever’s 2014 Junior Chef,\u00a0\"Young<\/a> and Hudson & Knight’s Baking Master. \u00a0Her dish reflects what she likes to eat as a fresh summer dish, including tropical fruits such as lychee, pineapple, and papaya. She used gluten-free and lactose-free ingredients.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0\"Young<\/a> ‘Cape Coast Rock Pool<\/em>‘ was the dish of Chef Katlego Mlambo of Rust en Vrede, who learnt to cook from his gran. \u00a0Coming from Johannesburg, and having spent the past six years in the Cape, he wanted to reflect the treasures of our oceans. \u00a0He has previously worked at The Roundhouse, and La Colombe. \u00a0The dish came with a bottle of brownish liquid, an umami broth representing the ocean water, Chef Katlego explained to me. \u00a0The dish contains mussels and calamari.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 Royal spiced Salmon served with prawn centurion egg croquette, spiced carrot pur\u00e9e, edible soil, and rose oil \"Young<\/a>tossed asparagus was created by Chef Sanjay Thakur of Etihad Airways. He said that his dish represents his journey on the plate, the salmon \u00a0prepared in the traditional method. \u00a0He\u00a0has worked in Australia, including at Nobu Melbourne.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0\"Young<\/a> ‘Down to Earth’<\/em> by Chef Simone van der Merwe of De Kloof Restaurant in Pretoria, who studied at the Institute of Culinary Arts in Stellenbosch, and worked for Neil Jewell at Bread & Wine. \u00a0Her dish was unusual in its presentation, a glass lying on its side on soil, with beetroot, blood orange, chocolate, and thyme.<\/p>\n

Other restaurant news from the event was:<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 Chef Hilton Espey (previously Apprentice) is taking over the Equus kitchen from Chef Henrico Grobbelaar on Sunday 1 March<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 Chef Lauren Case from Mondiall joins Bocca next month.<\/p>\n

The international S. Pellegrino 2015 Young Chef of the Year finals will be held in Milan in June, and Chef Angelo will represent Africa and the Middle East in competing against 19 other regional winners for the global title. \u00a0Chef Angelo will be accompanied by Chef David Higgs, who will help Chef Angelo fine-tune his dish for the competition.<\/p>\n

DISCLOSURE<\/strong>: We received a goodie bag which contained an interesting collection of gifts: a S. Pellegrino pen and notebook, an orange iPhone 4 cellphone cover (I had just bought one the day before), a Saladini knife, and a silver bracelet with a S. Pellegrino and an Aqua Panna bottle top charm.<\/p>\n

S. Pellegrino Young Chef 2015<\/strong>. www.finedininglovers.com<\/a> \u00a0Twitter: @FineDiningLovers<\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio:\u00a0www.whalecottage.com<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 Tel (021) 433-2100, Twitter:@WhaleCottage \u00a0Facebook: \u00a0<\/strong>click here<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a writer I receive invitations to many special events. \u00a0Yesterday’s Africa\/Middle East finals of the S. Pellegrino Young Chef 2015, held at the SA Chef’s Academy, was one of those memorable events, particularly as the nine finalists no doubt will become the future top chefs of our country and of Dubai. Originally ten finalist […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[3,124,1918,266,20,528,31,21,293],"tags":[27535,18237,25461,36,10296,32366,22774,32378,29668,30039,15662,139,29677,506,29671,22244,14710,2381,29670,30031,32369,140,554,3459,30042,11189,30033,99,21991,30041,39,27196,27720,10334,3769,18379,21472,27424,1346,30040,27607,30036,30035,29673,34,30030,14446,30043,30032,29675,12438,30038,29676,32376,607,30034,2495,29679,30037,32373],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t