National Chef of the Year finalists revealed

The finalists for this year's prestigious National Chef of the Year competition have been announced.

The eight finalists, who will compete at the annual competition's final next month, were selected from a total of 40 chefs after competing at four semi-final cook-offs held in Sheffield and London earlier this week.

The finalists are:

Craig Beacham, sous chef, the Elephant Restaurant & Brassiere, Torquay
David Bush, senior chef de partie, House of Commons
Richard Edwards, head chef, Park Restaurant, Lucknam Park Hotel, Wiltshire
Frederick Forster, head chef, Nuovo Restaurant
Hayden Groves, executive chef at Lloyds of London run by Avenance
Joe McCafferty, senior chef de partie, ROKA Restaurant, London
Simon Webb, head chef at Restaurant Associates
Alyn Williams, chef patron at the Westbury Hotel, London

The chefs will compete at the National Chef of the Year live final, which will take place at London's Restaurant Show on 11 October, where the judging panel will include Michelin-starred chefs Atul Kochhar and Chris Galvin.

They will also be invited to a mentor's day later this month, where the mystery basket of ingredients for the final will be unveiled.

David Mulcahy, organiser of the competition and vice-president of the Craft Guild of Chefs, said: "The National Chef of the Year competition is all about pitting the best-of-the-best in the industry and finding the one chef that is worthy to be honoured with this ultimate award.

"The semi finals have already provided us with excitement, drama and some fabulous takes on cutting edge dishes. The final is set to take the competition to another level and all competitors will need to be at the very top of their game."

The National Chef of the Year will win prizes worth more than £15,000, including a study trip to France and a masterclass with Marco Pierre White.

National Chef of the Year semi-finalists announced >>

Lucknam Park's Hrishikesh Desai named National Chef of the Year >>

New categories added to National Chef of the Year competition >>

By Kerstin Kühn

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