A number of professional young waiters and chefs from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland took part in the final of the ‘Young Chef Young Waiter’ competition, which was held at Titanic Belfast on Tuesday 19 September.

The Young Chef Young Waiter Awards involved a comprehensive judging day with a number of culinary challenges in the kitchen of Titanic Belfast and serving challenges in the Titanic Suite. This took place under the watchful eyes of an expert panel of judges.

Online judges included chef Richard Corrigan and chef-proprietor Anna Haugh of Myrtle London.

In-person judges included group executive chef at Harcourt Hotel collection Gordon Smyth, Noel McMeel of Ebrington Hotel and Adrian McNally, Titanic Hotel Belfast, part of the Harcourt Hotel collection, alongside other well-known advocates for new talent.

Cooking up a storm

Those hoping to be crowned young chef were given three and a half hours to create a three-course meal while the young waiter candidates had to select pairing wines for each course and undertake a number of challenging scenario-based situations before taking part in an interview with the judges.

Stiofán Feeney from Galway, who is currently working at Stage Italy in Rome, won the young chef award. Francesca Motta, who works at Chapter One in Dublin, won the young waiter award.

Both will now compete at the world finals in November 2023, which are taking place in Monaco. This competition will celebrate culinary professionals and hospitality excellence from countries across the globe.

Up and-coming stars

Chief executive of Titanic Belfast Judith Owens commented: “The Young Chef Young Waiter competition is a fantastic initiative that showcases the up-and-coming stars of those working in hospitality and provides a very important platform to encourage more young talent to pursue a career in the industry.”

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