National Chef of the Year reveals 2022 semi finalists

All of this year's semi finalists have been sent a package that includes a NCOTY-brand chef’s jacket, and will now go on to battle it out for one of the top 10 final spots. 

As part of the semi final process, each chef must create a short video, to present an amuse bouche-style signature dish that reflects their own favourite style of cooking or cuisine.

The video should explain what the dish is, why it is important to the chef and how it links to the theme.

Additionally, chefs will also answer some questions posed by chair of judges, Kenny Atkinson, who wants to know more about their original entry and what winning would mean to them.

Once all the entries have been received, a new panel of judges will whittle them down to ten finalists to compete in the cook-off at Le Cordon Bleu in September.

“Running my own business, I know how hard it is for chefs with staff shortages and so I take my hat off to every single chef who has entered this year,” says Atkinson, who runs fine dining restaurants House of Tides and Solstice in Newcastle.

“Credit must also go to the establishments and businesses they work for in supporting their entries. Putting together an entry of this level is time-consuming and requires a huge amount of effort and determination.

“The standard of entries this year was really high which makes this even more impressive, and it’s given us judges a huge amount of confidence in the future of the industry and the talent that is out there. At the judging session, there were many dishes that our panel were intrigued to taste so we are going to have a hard job reducing them down to just ten chefs next month.”

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the competition and the judges are looking for the next person to follow in the footsteps of recent champions Thomas Swaby, Nick Smith and Steve Groves.

The winner will not only receive the most sought-after chef title in the UK, but they will take home a host of impressive prizes including culinary experiences, equipment and trips of a lifetime.

“This year we celebrate fifty years of National Chef of the Year and we’ve already got some exciting events lined up for our mentor day and awards evening to mark this milestone,” says David Mulcahy, food innovation and sustainability director at Sodexo UK and Ireland, which organises the NCOTY competition. 

“Each year we review the competition and look at how we can modernise it whilst maintaining the strong history and respect this competition has in the industry. Having seen the high level of entries, we’re set for another exciting battle at the final.”