“The competition is a great way to showcase and highlight the talent within the food industry, and we are happy to announce that the standard of dishes this year was very high,” says Jacqui Gunn, the Sunday Times Chef of the Year competition manager. “It is also great to see the energy and enthusiasm of the younger chefs during the competition.”

All competing chefs within the four categories had to follow the same process during the cook-off sessions which began on Tuesday, 2 October. Each nominee received a mystery basket reflective of everyday seasonal South African ingredients. The baskets remain confidential until the cook-off times, and all the plates were presented to the judges anonymously. Each category had an hour and half to produce a three course menu, four plates of each course. The Stalwart of the Kitchen category only had to produce a two course menu.

Junior Chef of the Year’s mystery basket consisted of fresh tuna, free range chicken, sago, fresh figs and blood sausage. Tonglet produced the winning menu within this category, winning himself R10 000. Katlego Mlambo from The Roundhouse Restaurant, Camps Bay came in second place and Megin Meikle from the HTA School of Culinary Art in Johannesburg was awarded third place in the category.

Wednesday, 3 October was a busy day in the kitchen at Foodcorp, where both Young Chef of the Year and Stalwart of the Kitchen cooked away to claim the top title in each category. The Young Chef of the Year, Tiaan Langenegger from Overture produced a winning three course menu. This winning menu awarded Langenegger with R20 000 prize money. Second place was awarded to Christo Pretorius of the Cape Royal Luxury Hotel, Cape Town and third place in this category was won by Phil de Villiers from 54 on Bath in Rosebank. The mystery basket within this category contained pork loin chops, lardo, asparagus, exotic mushrooms, mango, hake, mealie meal and agar-agar, which is natural gelatine made from seaweed.

The Stalwart of the Kitchen was awarded to Mark Iveson from the Gonubie Hotel in East London, winning him the prize money of R10 000. He was up against Martha Hellman from Blue Moon Travel in Johannesburg. Their mystery basket included yellowtail, green olives, verjuice, white chocolate, fresh peaches and vanilla paste.

“The relationship between Foodcorp and the Sunday Times is really one of greatness as such an event like The Chef of the Year is a fantastic opportunity for the food industry. It is especially important for the junior chefs, who really showed impressive skills during this competition, and this is important as they are the chefs of the future,” says Justin Williamson, the CEO of Foodcorp.

Finally the Chef of the Year cook off got under way on Thursday morning, 4 October at 09:00. The kitchen heat rose when the three finalists Alfred Henry from Capsicum Studio, Cape Town; Hylton Espey of the Apprentice Restaurant Stellenbosch and Rudi Liebenberg from the Mount Nelson Hotel, Cape Town competed against each other for the grand prize money of R50 000. The Sunday Times Chef of the Year title was awarded to Liebenberg who was faced with a mystery basket containing lamb loin, lamb kidneys, white anchovies, cauliflower, spinach, coffee beans and sultana’s. Second place was claimed by Henry and Espey took home third place within this category.

“Wow, what an achievement. I really didn’t think I would be awarded Chef of the Year, as it really was one of the toughest and most gruelling days I have spent in the kitchen in a long time. From entering the very first Food Awards in 2006 and to winning Chef of the Year this year I can now hang up my apron. Thank you to Sunday Times and Foodcorp for this awesome opportunity,” says Liebenberg.

The Sunday Times would like to congratulate the winners within each of the four categories and thank all the contestants for their hard work, participation and enthusiasm over the competition.

Anyone interested in the Sunday Times Chef of the Year can find more information by going to the Facebook page www.facebook.com/SundayTimesChefOfTheYear .