Contest to Find the Best Chef In Wales

The National Chef of Wales is the pinnacle for all chefs working or studying in Wales.

The bi-annual competition provide a wonderful platform for chefs to demonstrate their culinary skills at an event designed to showcase the very best that Wales has to offer.

Organised by the Welsh Culinary Association (WCA), the competition is sponsored by the Welsh Government to promote the Wales the True Taste food and drink brand, Unilever Food Solutions and Hybu Cig Cymru / Meat Promotion Wales.

Apart from the cudos of being named best in Wales, the winners of the nation’s premier culinary contest for senior chefs receives a bespoke Dragon Trophy and up to £2,000 in prizemoney.

The road to glory begins in regional qualifying heats. Up to five chefs are selected for each of the regional heats from their application forms, with the entry fee including a year’s WCA membership.

From the heats, a panel of judges select the best four chefs to compete in the final at the Welsh International Culinary Championships at Coleg Llandrillo Cymru. The finalists face the ultimate challenge of devising and cooking a menu for a four-course dinner for four in three hours from a mystery box of ingredients, which they will see only the night before the contest.

Entry is open to chefs working or studying in Wales. They are challenged to devise their own creative menu for a three-course dinner for four, including some Wales the True Taste winning products, which they must prepare and cook within three hours.

The National Chef of Wales 2012 Final will be contested on St Valentine’s Day by: Chris Owen, 25, sous chef at the Castle Hotel, Conwy; Jonathan Reed, senior chef de partie at the Royal Sportsman Hotel, Porthmadog; Karl Jones Hughes, head chef at Hotel Plas Hyfryd, Narberth and Ryan Jones, 28, sous chef at Ffresh Restaurant at Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff.