Regional Finalists 2022-23

My dish is a celebration of the vibrant culinary traditions of Indonesia, infused with the gastronomic influences I’ve embraced since moving to Hong Kong. At its core is Nasi Tumpeng, a ceremonial Javanese dish that is the centerpiece of any family gatherings.

As a nod to my Indonesian heritage, I will present my interpretation of the iconic Sumatran dish Sate Padang featuring a deeply flavorful grilled Hong Kong duck, connecting the flavors of my past and present.

My favorite childhood dish is Assam Laksa. To me, the beauty of this dish is the combination of flaky fish melding together with the herbaceous, acidic, spicy, sweet umami broth with nuggets of larger sized fish meat. My version of Assam Laksa utilizes homemade traditional rempah enhanced with fish garum & fish-bone stock & laksa leaf oil with a mosaic made of Kingfish and Farce using the fish trimmings served with Ginger Flower Sorbet and Fish Skin-Yuba Tuile topped w Native Herbs and Salsa.

"Miso-marinated" Omi beef and "heshiko," aged fish, have a history of hundreds of years in my hometown. I added the traditional French "hollandaise sauce" and "cherries condiment" to create a new dish. The cherries harmonize the traditional cuisine of both countries. However, if climate change continues, cherries will no longer be available in the future. This shows that while historic dishes can evolve, there is a future where foods may no longer exist.

This is the purest form of expression of my journey. This dish will take you through the beginning of my career all the way to the present. It takes inspiration from my grandmother’s impactful love for cooking transmitted to me as a young girl, to the reflection of my culinary career. My development as a chef and the learning of cultures, were turning points of finding my own identity and what has devoted me to this chapter.

This dish, in a nutshell, represents who I am. Not only are all the main ingredients sourced from directly here in Canada, but also the techniques used I learned (and tweaked) from all the most important restaurants I have worked. It takes humble ingredients like duck and corn and elevates them to a new level of luxury. Lastly it attempts to blur the lines between savoury and sweet dishes with the use of popcorn and shortbread. Its an artful and fun representation of who I am as a chef.

This dish only uses sustainable ingredients that are locally available in the winter months. When most restaurants are relying on imported produce, local farms are still providing us with root vegetables and apples. On the rocky beaches, the oysters become plump and sweet. I hope to communicate a sense of place and a sense of time, and to show that local eating goes beyond the bounty of the summer months. In the pared-back simplicity of winter there is still beauty and flavour to be found.

I wish to inspire people to reconnect with their neighborhood. Regionality is not just practiced, it is lived! We need to encourage kids to engage in gastronomy. Let's show the next generation the joy of serving guests dishes made from locally-sourced ingredients, fostering connections with friends in the local farming community. Hopefully, kids today, through my cooking, will discover that, as my grandma always says: 'Where there's a will, there's a way.' Let's create paths worth taking.

I would like to show that we can eat less meat and fish and eat more vegan or vegetarian.
You can get so many nice flavours and combinations that we can all eat less animals but still get the feeling to have eaten something special

My dish is intended to showcase the colourful diversity and wonderful flavours of my homeland. The idea of my dish is based on my experiences and the various inspirations of my career. I want to put my homeland and our great produce centre stage.

My dish associates two opposed universe: the "meaty" one from the Chateauneuf farm beef and the iodized one from the cuttlefish and the herring eggs
These three product prepared in their entirety will along the preparation and then degustation respond and feature them self. They will reveal their complexity and the deepness of their taste but still with a strong readability.
A key quest to the essential in the idea that “less it’s more” in this special social and environmental context.

My signature dish, 'Oceanic Revelations,' contrasts the natural color of white cod with black squid ink to symbolize the impact of sea pollution on ocean life. Fennel with green herbs and a delicate fennel sauce represents hope and the fragility of marine ecosystems. Inspired by sustainable practices, it emphasizes the importance of conscientious seafood consumption and urgently calls for the protection of our marine ecosystems for future generations.

I would like to present this dish because it is the first dish I have offered in a starred restaurant. It is close to my heart because it took me a lot of time and trials to achieve the expected result. In addition, it represents for me a childhood memory. Indeed, my father is a baker and pastry chef. When I was little, he made pissaladières every day. I ate it often, I always loved it. Through this dish, my wish was to sublimate my father's pissaladière.

From head to toe. That's what came to my mind when I decided that my dish should be mainly pork. Pork is a product that shows us that everything can be used and that nothing should be wasted. At the same time, most pork-based preparations require long cooking times and the patience that goes with it. For me, making the most of time and time are the indisputable pillars of any kitchen, and that is where this dish I am presenting has come from.

With this proposal, what I am trying to do is make the most of a product of such quality as hake. Hake is one of the most consumed foods in Spain by the most humble families. In this dish I use all parts of the hake to avoid throwing waste in the trash. The garnishes are also made with cheap products simulating how poor families would make them. The dish has three preparations using a different part of the hake in each of them.

The origin of the techniques and flavours of this dish come from the city where my surname comes from, from an emblematic family who to this day represent historical flavours and maintain their roots, and above all from the great use that this region has made for centuries of the natural resources of its geography, such as rivers and countryside, where they ate from their own vegetable garden. This is a tribute to them.

I chose baby goat, because in addition to liking it a lot, it was the first animal I cooked in my first work experience, we used to stew it with potatoes without any knowledge of the various cuts of meat, it was cut into pieces and cooked in a pot. With this dish I would like to encourage many young people like me who come from experiences like mine, that with study and perseverance you discover other ways of presenting a cut or an animal in general.

My dish showcases the biodiversity of Alta Langa using every part of the lamb, emphasizing sustainability and respect. Combining tradition and innovation, it draws inspiration from historical local recipes. This dish reflects a deep connection with the land, honoring the region's culinary heritage and presenting it in a modern, creative way.

The memory of an emotion lives on in this dish. It takes me back in time, to when my mom used to prepare it in our family restaurant. At the same time it allows me to look ahead, in search of new paths linked to my ideas of sustainability with little waste. Questioning memories to create my interpretation, in full respect of raw materials. The dish talks about who created it, where it started from and what it wants to tell.

A short time ago there was an oil spill on the coast of Peru, it made me realize the consequences of spills, they generate a tremendous environmental impact, but I think the wisdom of nature is greater than mine, and its benefits even more so, for this reason I want to use seaweed and mushrooms in my dish. My dish generates awareness but also sustainability, using a product that is not used to supplant others and obtain benefits for human health, for me that's one way to make sustainable cooking.

As a proud young chef from Mexico, I capture my roots using local ingredients, intertwining cultural traditions with global techniques. Inspired by Oaxaca's rich culinary heritage, my dish showcases our identity, drawing from childhood memories. This creation reflects the vibrant flavors of Oaxaca, honoring our traditions and the essence of my hometown.

The hen is the base of one of our emblematic typical dishes: the sancocho, a soup that is eaten at any time and on any occasion, it is cooked in firewood causing the soup to have smoky notes. It was with this idea that this dish was born, as I was curious about how to use the little parts of it, such as the neck, how the food ferments inside the gizzard and how through the use of one hundred per cent of the ingredients.

This dish stemmed from my memory of my hometown. It started with chicken from Hetian Town and that relates to local farms and the whole ecological system. From there, it casts a light onto the Chinese farming and rural society culture.

Poultry is an important element in the dining culture for this city tucked away in the mountains. These Hetian chickens have a wild temperament and were used for imperial chicken fights in the ancient times. The farmers live in the mountains and the chickens roam around freely in the pristine environment feeding on wheat and rice grown on the farm. From my memory, these chickens are capable enough to scale trees and even rooftops.
 

This is a modern culinary expression that combines local Sichuan ingredients with traditional French cooking techniques. Through this dish, it showcases the exchange and fusion of different regions and cultures, highlighting the harmony and balance of Sichuan's natural environment. Fresh seasonal bamboo shoots, sun-drenched Daliangshan yellow potatoes, and the unique flavor of wood ginger are used, aiming to express the skills and aesthetics of modern cooking through traditional French methods.

There are many ways to cook chicken in Guangzhou, and as the saying goes: “It is not a feast if you don’t have chicken”. This dish is originally a Cantonese-style crispy roast chicken. Chicken dries out easily because of its low fat content, and traditional methods of roasting or frying at high temperature are not healthy enough, so I use modern low-temperature slow-cooking cooking methods to process traditionally marinated chicken. This resulting chicken is not only tender and juicy, but also nutritious and healthy.

The chicken is stuffed with sweet pea paste and shrimp paste. This is a technique called "stuffing" in Chinese cuisine. One or several ingredients are made into puree and filled with another ingredient. During the heating process, the flavors of various ingredients integrate yet retain their own characteristics. The sweetness of the sweet pea puree and the saltiness of the shrimp bring a fuller taste experience to the chicken. I reduce the use of condiments, and unique original flavor of the ingredients themselves become more memorable.
 

With more than 10 years experience in different countries it took me a second to realize and change mi mindset when it comes to cooking when I landed in Sweden a year ago, all green and good use of resources. My personal goal in my career is to reduce waste as much as possible, we are so many in this planet but most of us don't do enough to minimize our negative impact in nature. I believe we can do so much more and what´s better than start with what we eat in our restaurants?

I want to send the message that we really must make sure that the local food production survives in the future. In Norway, we are losing more and more of the producers because people don’t buy their vegetables/products. I want to show how amazing vegetables can be, just cooked the right way and that you can order a vegetarian dish in a restaurant, and still feel full. I’m doing this using some traditional cooking methods in a more modern and vegetarian way and only using Local products.

Fish and seafood is close to my heart and this is why I chose this as main components. Blue shelled mussels filter our waters and removes nitrogen and phosphorus, which prevents eutrophication and algae concentrations. Mussels doesn’t need any backing or dung. Mine are sourced from the Swedish west coast, by Janne Bark's mussel farms outside Ljungskile. I’ve also chosen to work with Swedish cod, locally and sustainably sourced.

Through this dish, I aim to express the elegance and complexity of Australian gourmet cuisine. The combination of duck, plums, and Australian black truffles showcases the country's rich agricultural diversity and culinary potential. The dish pays homage to my grandfather's farm and Australia's ability to produce high-quality, luxury ingredients and its growing reputation in the global gourmet scene.

The inspiration behind this dish is the imagery of the sun reflecting on the gentle ocean waves.
The sunlight and delicate sea foam cast marbled shadows on the sand dunes below.
In the shallow waters of the sea floor, the turbot camouflages itself in the rippled shadows, swimming between the dancing seaweed, like curtains of a theatre.
The potato being the roots of the land completes the dish by complementing the flavour of the turbot and seaweed, but emulating the delicate fins of this Fish.

My dish is based on my culinary journey: I am Indian by birth and I moved to New Zealand when I was 18 and I've been working in Tamaki Makaurau for the last 10 years, surrounded by the ocean. I want to showcase the best of seafood found in the country and also merge it with my Indian heritage in a subtle way by using dried fenugreek leaves with some of the main ingredients found in a lot of Indian food.

In a world of abundance, we need to look at a more nursing future. Sourcing ingredients has become paralysing for our planet. Due to over-fishing and over breeding, there is a big impact on the bee lives that provide us reproduction, which is necessary for our lives. In my dish, I combined sustainable farmed sea bass, free range pork and ecofriendly bee products from our little country. The dish shows how important sustainability is and also how the elements of nature are and can be connected.

The Pig's Alms is a sacred ritual deeply rooted in our country's folklore and tradition, people have forgotten about what it means, it is supposed to be about honoring and showing gratitude toward the animal that has given his life for us to survive. I would like with this dish to bring attention to this lost respect towards nature and what it offers us.The dish's flavours represent my cultural gastronomic heritage and origins, the taste of my home,of my childhood and my memories.

‘Aljotta’ is a traditional Maltese tomato-based fish broth soup. My dish comprises of homely traditional flavours, in part with a little twist and in the other a more technical and modern to it. The importance is ultimately the flavour of the original ‘Aljotta’; as to impart my childhood memory of my first fishing boat trip, which also was the first time eating the soup. It is also a small taste of Malta, our history and the deliciousness in the simplicity of our cooking.

It is my homage to one of the most iconic animals of a place which I now call home, the Scottish Highlands. I want to express my identity as a chef in this competition by using local and sustainable ingredients, showing respect for the animal by using everything I could. I wanted to showcase the techniques I have learnt in my short time in this industry, with butchery, pastry work and sauce making at the heart of the dish.

As a Korean chef in London, this dish reflects my identity. In this diverse city, culinary boundaries dissolve, blending local UK ingredients with staples from my homeland. Signature ingredients like kimchi, Korean miso paste, Jeju bracken, and Makgeolli create a fusion that's both familiar and innovative. This dish also showcases the seafood expertise I've developed as a fish chef. From precise techniques to selected marinades, every element shows my dedication and passion for seafood cuisine.

I want to showcase everything i have learnt as a chef so far. I think doing a classical dish like this is unique and modern and really shows how different styles and cuisines have evolved. This really expresses how far food has come and how far i have come.

This dish pays homage to the fishermen and farmers of my hometown, Kerala. Full use of the ingredients grown, farmed, and fished in the region has shaped the cuisine into one that is humble and driven by the people who have been there for generations and for much of this time it hasn’t been showcased in a modern setting. Now in Chicago, I have begun to understand how hospitality and artistic expression can bring a cuisine like this to new audiences and evoke a connection to a foreign cuisine.

I believe in Cuisine du terroir, sustainability and respect of the product.
As a young chef I consider myself responsible for preserving our nature. The dish follows the concept of “Farm to Fork”. We grow our own Wagyu cattle and the mushrooms, onions and huckleberry are grown locally which supports our farmers.
Coming from a Hindu family I have pushed all the boundaries to learn and develop my skills to work with our cows and I have immense respect for the animal that has given its life for me.

The Vietnam Cookery Culture is not simply the France and China Cuisine, but it is the fusion between those Big Two Cordon Bleu that give birth to the Street Foods in Saigon. The type of “ Haute Cuisine” are available to all the people, no matter where are they from.
My Mission, is to deliver this message to Fine Dinning Table, the belief is to parade “Before Fine Dinning was born, there was Street Food”

I created these dishes by reminiscing about the morning's picking. The first thing we did in the restaurant before setting off to pick mushrooms was to drink our coffee. I made my first plate with mushrooms, coffee and chocolate, with a few crisps to remind us of our foraging trip. My second plate is to take you with me on a foraging trip, to walk in the forest and find all the things you can find in the woods.

With this dish I actually want to transfer all my passion and love to the detail. From the first step to the last arrangement of the flower. How many thoughts have gone into this dish. How to use everything from an animal. How I can best transmit my emotions to the guest. The filigree and delicacy of the dish. But in the end it's the taste that counts, that's my priority. I also want to be able to stand behind it 100 percent and I want to tell myself, that I can't do it better at the moment.

With this dish, I want to convey much more than just a culinary experience: I want to pass on a story of commitment to ecology and sustainable development. For me, Neirivue trout, caught in the pristine waters of the Gruyère region, embodies the tradition and quality that nature has to offer. By choosing to work with this local fish, I am committed to respecting and preserving our environment. The fresh, fragrant herbs from the Mossettes garden are at the heart of it all.