Regional Finalists 2022-23

I sought to blend the flavors of Balinese cuisine with the memories of my roots in Tholen, a small village in the Netherlands, Zeeland province, historically renowned for its mussel culture. Now I am located in Bali, exploring, and tasting those amazing dishes and flavors. In this fusion, I weave together the essence of Bali and Tholen, capturing the essence of two worlds in one dish. It's a tribute to my journey, where the flavors of my past meet the spices of my present.

I consider that the food with genuine sentiments is the most delicious, but at the same time, the most challenging to make— the cuisine that tells a story. Through my cuisines, I want to share with people the story weaved by my experience of travelling, precious memories and the island have nurtured me and raised me up – Taiwan. I wish my guests, by eating the warm delicacies, can be moved and realize that their days can also be pleasant and heart-warming.

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.

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 is an homage to my personal culinary journey. Being of Chinese Filipino decent, this dish is a culmination of the influence other countries have had on Filipino cuisine. I want to use this opportunity to showcase a beautiful bird sourced locally from Ontario,while flaunting a contemporary version of a classic dish replacing the pork. I’d like to think of myself like this Sinigang dish, a pinnacle of different influences and techniques I've learned from the different Chefs in my career.

I want to show that fine dining food can have zero waste when done correctly, getting creative on how to utilize trim in order to reduce food waste will make fine dining more sustainable. this dish when done correctly in a restaurant setting will have zero waste associated with it. it uses techniques that I have developed alongside some of my mentors. This dish is very important to me as it shows my mindest towards cooking on one plate. No waste, local, healthy, delicious.

With this dish, I present my homeland on a plate and showcase my Bavarian/Franconian roots with typical components from pub cuisine. My motto is to make pub cuisine special and fresh in its simplicity. Classic Bavarian cuisine is known for its heaviness and richness. However, I want to show that it can also be dynamic, light and appealing without losing its traditional charm.

With this dish I would like to express that we all have to look back sometimes when we were young and our families were cooking for us.
This dish I devote both my Grandmothers. One of them came from the Northern part of Germany that stands for the Sea part of the dish and the other Grandma came from the West part of Germany and she had a big homegrown garden. I gather two types of living and put my identity as a chef on top thus it became my Signature Dish.

My dish should represent the northern Waldviertel and the history of my family. The idea for my signature dish was born in my head from childhood flavours. But I also want to use it to show sustainability and make a statement that you can still cook an interesting style of cuisine using classic techniques.

This dish for me represents Irish culture married with classical french techniques,as an Irish chef in France it's something that's very important to me.I break down the elements of the whiskey making process into individual steps, and that utilise those steps to inspire a key ingredient on the plate, all to accompany Irish Beef Tongue."Whiskey loosening the tongue" is an Irish phrase for when we drink whiskey it helps open conversation, I'm playing on that phrase as I braise the beef in whiskey.

‘Quanto sei bella Roma’ is a tribute to my hometown, Rome. The title comes from a famous song about this city that for me is the most beautiful in the world. I left Rome about 10 years ago to grow personally and professionally, but my heart will always belong to it and I am happy to represent it with a dish in such an important competition. It is a traditional recipe that my grandmother used to prepare for me (Coda alla vaccinara) and which I propose in my own way, gastronomically speaking.

I would like to express my technique and all the skills I have learnt. I've travelled a lot but I'm still connected to Brittany, my home region, even though I've left. I'm very attached to it. Now that I've settled in the Ardèche, my dish represents both, the saltiness of Brittany and the technique of Royans raviole. I'd like to show you that I can present something that is extremely simple at first glance, even though all the fillings in it are complex.

With my signature dish I would like to try to tell you judges my story, from my Sicilian origins and what I have learnt these past two years in Spain. Precisely in this dish I have tried to find a marriage between my homeland and Spain, taking a wild meat much used in Spain, and some Sicilian elements that I prefer, which bring back so many beautiful memories linked to my family, because in the end what I love when I cook is to remember.

My dish is inspired by the similarities between the foothills of the Chilean Andes and the north of Spain, especially Navarre. The freedom of the Chilean quail and the strength of the bull during the San Fermin festival represent the connection between these two distant lands. With local ingredients that must be used to the maximum, this dish brings me closer to home, allows me to discover its potential and motivates me to represent Chilean gastronomy in Navarra and the whole world.

My dream as a chef is nothing more than to be able to take my island to the highest level of gastronomy, being happy along the way. I have expressed it in this dish, using figs, lactose and corn, which is what the pigeon feeds on during its life, making 100% use of it and accompanying it with the three most typical plants of the island, which are fennel, rosemary and salicornia. With this dish I want to show that with a few simple ingredients and your own roots you can achieve a dish of great quality.

This dish revolves around the use of the main part of the ingredients and those of “ scrap “ , nothing is thrown away, rather at the end of each preparation what’s left is used as a base for another recipe. This is to raise consciousness of the Chef on food waste and consequently on the human resources used for the production of raw ingredients.

My "Ossi di seppia" draws inspiration from Montale's work, where bones, wandering among the waves and seemingly worthless, symbolize a miserable yet significant existential condition. Like the small things in daily life, they conceal intrinsic value and beauty. By using every part of the cuttlefish, even those considered scraps, I aim to showcase their importance and convey the significance of circular cooking to reduce waste and valorise each ingredient.

The concept of territory is an important thing when I think about creating a dish. I owe a lot to Tuscany, so I chose the Casentino trout. We are talking about a unique specimen bred in Stia, in the province of Arezzo, where "Puccini Trout Farming" allowed me to experience first-hand one of the most interesting products found so far. A fish that struck me so much that I really wanted to pay homage to it in all its facets, using every part of it in the name of sustainability and reducing waste.

Panamanian cuisine is a fusion of indigenous, African, Spanish and Asian influences. The Afro-descendant cultures, especially in seafood, and the indigenous heritage of the Guna, Ngäbe-Buglé, Emberá and others, are vital to our culinary identity. Through this dish, I would like to give you a taste of our ethnic heritage. From our indigenous groups to the African slaves, this dish represents a taste of our gastronomic mix.

This is an expression of love, honour, affection, subtlety, wisdom, passion and, of course, legacy.
The dish reminds me of my childhood, when at harvest time, mum and dad used to take me and my siblings to harvest the corn cob, remove the amero (corn husk), shuck it and grind it to make envueltos. These wraps had curd in them and we used to accompany them with sweaty fish called catfish and our beautiful Colombian sauce, hogao (sofrito).

“Mackerel, plantain and coconut” refers to the day to day life of people living in humble seaside towns in Costa Rica, it highlights the value of these undervalued products and a perspective on a simpler way of living where waste is not an option.In these areas zero waste is not a trend but a viable way to feed an entire family. And instead of seeing it as something that limits it can be a source of inspiration for creating unique preparations and finding ways to enhance their flavour.

I once read an interview stating that food waste is a fatal flaw in fine dining restaurants. Many ingredients, from purchase to plating, end up being only 50%-70% of their original quantity, with an average of 30% of ingredients being wasted. However, sustainable development is a social responsibility and obligation that we, as the new generation of young chefs, must undertake. At this moment, I utilize various cooking techniques to fully utilize ingredients and minimize waste, aiming to convey my thoughts on sustainable development as a young chef.

I express the fusion between two cultures, Chinese and Italian. The dish is composed of childhood memories where every Sunday as a child I cooked with my grandmother "Spaguetti pomodoro", I grew up with the taste of this food and I tell this story with Chinese elements, peppers from the Sichuan region, which I transfer to the tomato sauce. I replace the "grano paste" with bamboo, from southern China. I follow my dish with crostini in it there is osmantus that reminds me of the Chinese spring.

In Chinese culture, there is an old saying, "Eat what is in season," which means that the right time creates flavors, and if missed, one must wait patiently. Watching the ingredients in the liquid or the proliferation of fungi during the making of rice koji, I have been struck by the unique flavors these processes bring to food, reminding me of the preciousness of life. As a chef, I believe it is my duty to cherish this gift of life brought by time, allowing it to continue in a different form. I believe that this gift should not be used solely for profit, but should be shared with everyone, allowing them to experience its charm.

Knowledge makes you respect the raw materials, if you know how we produce food we also learn to treat it with respect. Knowledge is power to respect different people, countries and finally the globe.

Through this dish, I aim to evoke a sense of culinary heritage and connection to Sweden. The lamb symbolizes tradition and sustenance, reflecting the rich history of pastoral cultures. Each bite tells a story of resilience and harmony with nature and culinary craftsmanship. It embodies a cultural identity deeply rooted in reverence for quality ingredients and time-honored cooking techniques.

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?

This dish is influenced by a region of India called Kashmir. It is inspired by its rich culture, cooking style and ingredients that grow around there. Through this dish, I want to express how influences of different countries and cultures has created the rich history of Kashmir. Complexity in the concept, simplicity in the execution is what that I want this dish to cry out. Exploring deep into their culture, taking inspiration and applying my own creativity and style has formed this idea.

I was born and raised in Sichuan, China. With my professional training from Le Cordon Bleu in Australia, I found Australia can be a bridge of combination of two completely different flavours and cultures. I have considered South Australia as my second home, and I love the wide range of fresh ingredients and indigenous products. I want to bring the authentic Sichuanese flavour to South Australia and create my own food style inspired by modern western cuisine in the short future.

As an immigrant, moving from South Korea to growing up in Ireland, one of the challenges was the cuisine. I went from having rice with lots of different sides (banchan) such as kimchi, to having a meat and two vegetables. One of my earliest food memory is going to my friends house and trying bacon and cabbage. I remember the boiled salty pork and the sautéed cabbage with mustard and some steamed potatoes with butter on top. So I wanted to do a dish that combined the two different cultures.

It has always been impotant to me that we use every part of our ingredients to fight against food waste, that is why is use whole ducks.It significant to me that we also use the techniques of our ancestors for example preserving,foraging.I dedicate the dish to my family and my childhood.I grew up in the countryside where we kept animals. Duck was also an important part of the family meals.The treasures if the forest, the garden the wild plants were always part of our life.

This dish stems from the global need to change the fine dining concept. I believe that the process of dining in a restaurant should be more educational, interestin and enjoyable for guests, with the help of other arts such as theatrical. With this dish, I will conjure up a performance about Sava Savanović, the first Serbian vampire, and country i came from, with the fact that in dish food will play the main role, where each segment of the dish will tell its own part of the story in this play.

‘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.

Scallops & samphire are the flavour of the galette I was eating as a kid on Brittany's coast when my family was going to a "crêperie", this is why I have chosen 3 major ingredients: scallops beautiful seafood from Scotland (where I am living), samphire foraged along Scottish coast, and buckwheat reminder of the "galette de blé noir" dish of my childhood. Also by using the entirety of the scallops through the dish I want to express the importance of going toward a zero waste way of cooking.

This dish signifies my journey , it starts off with my heritage and roots - this being the base flavours of masala, Granadilla and Smokey Braai flavours ( Braai: South African cooking method ) , these flavours represent where my journey began. At the same time showcasing my beliefs of respecting the ingredients and using them with integrity and love , expressing my beliefs through food . My journey was not an easy one , but I made sure it was colourful, vibrate and bold.

I want to focus on traditional Rajasthani hunter-style cooking by showcasing grains, vegetables of the region. It reflects the time when kings used to go out hunting for weeks, they would carry minimal spices and grain and they would cook the hunted animal in the pit. My dish is surrounded by that idea but with my execution.

My intention was to use every piece of an often-overlooked ingredient, prepare it in a variety of ways, and build depth with fermented products. Leek hearts were steamed and marinated, more fibrous leaves were braised for pasta filling, inner leaves were made into a mousseline with leftover quail egg whites, the leek tops were made into an oil, a few leaves were fried to make leek hay, and the remaining scraps were made into an ash to color the pasta dough. Paired with miso, amazake, and shoyu

I have always been inspired by the way my family in Greece and Italy embrace food, especially coastal fare. In my professional career I have learned so much more about traditional French and Japanese technique, and through this dish, I have found an all encompassing way to convey my passion for food.

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.

When I started to create this dish a lot of people told me not to do it because it contains too much work.
So this explains my stubbornness and love for the work. The sweet potato also became my personal logo.

I want to express that you can make things very complex without a million technics. sometimes a pure product has his own complexities.

Through this vegetable dish, the idea is to show that a simple product can become a complex and flavorful dish on its own. You can get a range of different flavors and textures through lacto, cooking, or the combination of products.

This dish represents a combination of my view, love and upbringing with food. being thought french cuisine and working with locale produce, loving the purity of japanse food and having roots in indonesia. I strive for balance in flavours and combining the east with the west in unexpected ways. I like to think outside the box with produce without losing the story behind the dish.