Following registration for Nestlé Professional Toque d’Or 2019, we tasked teams and apprentices to come up with a recipe for a vegetarian dish based on Nutrition, Health, Wellness and Sustainability. They had to submit this for judging along with a short video presenting their dish and explaining why they wanted to be a part of the competition. You can see some of the entry videos on our Toque d'Or YouTube channel.
The judging panel gathered on 17th January to work their way through the entries and score teams on their creativity, culinary skills and understanding of the brief. This year’s judges were Mick Burke – Fellow of the Master Chefs of Great Britain, Charlie Miers - CEO at Footprint Media Group, Robert Smith – Founder & Creative Director at Shuttersmith, Andrej Prokes - Chef Consultant at Nestlé Professional and Beth Hooper - Nutrition Manager at Nestlé. The enthusiasm and passion teams put in to creating their dishes was evident throughout all the submissions, and the judges were thoroughly impressed.
Congratulations to the teams and apprentices who have been shortlisted to take part in the National Heats, each group competing for one of six places in the Grand Finals:
COLLEGES
Ayrshire College, Kilmarnock Campus
Broadstairs College
City of Glasgow College
Coleg Llandrillo
Coventry College
Crawley College
Farnborough College of Technology teams 1&2
Fife College
Middlesbrough College teams 1&2
Newcastle College team 2
North Hertfordshire College team 1
Nottingham College
Sheffield Hallam University team 1
South West College
Southern Regional College
University College Birmingham
University of Derby teams 1&2
Vision West Notts
West London College
Westminster Kingsway College
York College
APPRENTICES
Adam Parsons, Holiday Inn Lincoln
Ben Cope, abm catering
Ben Simmonds-Grant, Emily Jackson House
Brad Finbow, The Kings Arms
Callum Davidson, The Gun Pub
Callum Jones, Google
Charlie Green, The Windmill Inn Redmile
Charlie Mariner, Goodwood Racecourse
Chester Duncan-Goodwin, The Lincoln Hotel
Chloe Welbourne, The Green Man, Ropsley
Connor Rigby, The Scafell Hotel
Cristiano Crassus, Thornbury Castle
Darragh Ryan, Fuller's
David Bates, Google
David Stephenson, The Bedford Swan
Dmitri Zihharko, Connect Catering
Drew Dawson, The Ned London
Emily Page, The Cross Keys Stow
Gemma Parsonage, The Red Lion
Grzegorz Banbula, The Regent Balham
Hannah Dunne, The Swan at Lamport
Hannah Salisbury, The Carlyon Bay Hotel
Hayley Markham, Riverford at The Duke of Cambridge
Jack Baldwin, The Bruce Arms
James Rolleston, The Tickled Pig
James Taylor, The George and Dragon
Jessica Michell, Southampton Harbour Hotel & Spa
Joseph Went, Hotel Du Vin Harrogate
Joshua Mannino, The Arundell Arms Hotel
Julia Jewers, Lady Eleanor Holles
Kathleen Davie, Upper Shirley High School
Leonardo Hernandez, Christchurch Harbour Hotel & Spa
Lewis McGarr, Fuller's
Liam Clements, Bhurtpore Barracks
Lily Stock, Boodle's
Lisa Allsop, Caterlink
Maria Guerreiro, Beaumanor Hall
Megan Baldock, Goldman Sachs
Oscar Sammons, The Belmont Hotel
Owen Lord, Pilgrim Hotel & Restaurant
Patrycja Gora, Bhurtpore Barracks
Russell Horn, Lancing College
Ryan MCallister, Duke Of Kent
Sherif Odusanwo, Fuller's
Stefan Murdoch, CH&CO
Susan Downie, Barchester Healthcare
Tom Armstrong, The Old Mill Inn
Umair Iqbal, Thornbury Castle
The National Heats will take place across the UK from 4th – 12th March 2019 with teams being given a masterclass for a three course lunch service, which they will have to replicate for guest diners.
We will announce the six finalist teams on Wednesday 13th March 2019.