HCT Students Take County Flavours to Centre Stage in London Finals
Herefordshire College of Technology, Level 2 Hospitality and Catering students Dale Williams, Josie Davies and Chloe Dicken have won the regional finals of the nationwide competition ‘Brake’s Student Chef Team Challenge’ with this year’s theme ‘Best of British’.
The team created a three course-menu, which included a variety of local produce such as Wye Valley Trout, Dorothy Goodbody’s Ale, Herefordshire Beef and Chase Vodka. The team had 1hr 45minutes to execute 4 dishes of each course and were being judged not only on the end product but also on their communication, preparation and hygiene. The competition was tough with all of the other 5 colleges submitting teams from their Level 3 programmes.
The winning trio commented, “Practice definitely makes perfect. Our tutors have really been amazing; Les Brown and Stuart Leggett (from the Stewing Pot restaurant in Hereford) have helped our confidence a lot. We set up restricted space and time conditions with them as the judges and this prepared us well for the real event. Once we were there, we just went for it! We’re really excited about the finals though of course a little nervous too. We have a week off and then we’re back in to training again. We’re taking on board what the judges told us and then hopefully each dish will be absolutely spot on.”
As one of the six winning teams from regional heats across the UK they have been invited to take part in the live final, which is being held at the Hotelympia Salon Culinaire International De Londres at the end of February. It’s a biannual event renowned throughout the industry and this time the team will be performing in front of a live audience.
This competition allows the winning team of the February finals an amazing opportunity to gain work experience at one of London’s leading hotels, which occupies the historic County Hall building. The winners will be under the tutelage of Christopher Basten, Executive Chef at the London Marriot Hotel, County Hall.
Team Leader, Sarra Leak is really proud of the staff and students, “They’ve all worked tremendously hard to get to this level and just getting to the final is outstanding. This is a real testament to how committed the tutors are and how inspired our students are by them. A great performance all round, fingers crossed for February!”
