National Chef of the Year 2017: 10 finalists revealed

22-Jun-2016 - Last updated on 27-Apr-2021 at 13:13 GMT

The Craft Guild of Chefs has named the 10 chefs making it through to the final of the National Chef of the Year (NCOTY) 2017 competition.

The finalists, selected at cook-off heats in London yesterday (22 June) and in Sheffield on 14 June, will now prepare for the live final at The Restaurant Show on 4 October.

They are:

Danny Parker, head chef House of Tides
Martin Carabott, senior sous chef, The Royal Automobile Club
Adam Thomason, head chef, Restaurant Associates
Charles Smith, head chef, Alyn Williams at The Westbury
Liam McKenna, head chef Trump International
James Devine, sous chef, EIPIC
Paul Foster, chef-patron, Salt
Stephanie Coupland, chef-de-partie Restaurant Gordon Ramsay
Luciano Lucioli, head chef, Lusso - CH&Co
Kamil Wierzbowski, sous chef, Petrus Restaurant, Gordon Ramsay.

As well as competing in the NCOTY final, the chefs will also attend a mentor day at The Grove, Hertfordshire on 5 September where they will be presented with a mystery basket of ingredients to be used in the final take part in a masterclass with former NCOTY winner, Russell Bateman.

David Mulcahy, vice president of the Craft Guild of Chefs and organiser of the competition said: “This has probably been our most hotly-contested semi-finals to date, starting with an amazing Sheffield heat last week and some closely fought London heats. It was an interesting brief this year which focused on core culinary skills and these 10 chefs have demonstrated a high level of skill whilst adapting the brief to their own cooking style.”

The semi-finals were judged by a panel of over 40 judges chaired by Clare Smyth. She said: "I believe we have found 10 incredibly talented chefs who now have to raise their game even further to be in with a chance of taking the UK’s most sought-after title.”