Craft Guild of Chefs 2013

C&C were delighted to sponsor the “Competition Chef Award” at the 2013 Craft Guild of Chefs Awards held this week in London. Javier Mercado of Le Cordon Bleu was this year’s winner and was presented  with his Guild Jacket by HRH The Countess of Wessex, the Guild’s Patron and C&C’s Commercial Director Trevor Clark.

Hearty congratulations are extended to Clark Crawley of Restaurant Associates and Ben Ford of River Island who were also short-listed for this year’s award. The full list of winners included:

• Apprentice Chef Award – Ruth Hansom, Boundary Restaurant
• Armed Services Chef Award – Cpl Alun Davies, Catering Team RAF Squadron
• Banqueting & Event Chef Award – Michael Bullard, West Bromwich Albion FC
• Chef Lecturer Award – Patricia Paskins, University of West London
• Competition Chef Award – Javier Mercado, Le Cordon Bleu
• Contract Catering Chef Award – Darren Thompson, Sodexo
• Cost Sector Chef Award – Rob Bean, University of Leicester
• Development Chef Award – Andy Twells, Eurest Instore
• Ethnic Chef Award – Giorgio Locatelli, Locanda Locatelli
• New Restaurant of the Year Award – Lima
• Pastry Chef Award – Andrew Ditchfield, House of Commons
• People’s Choice Award – Simon Boyle, Brigade/Beyond Food Foundation
• Pub Restaurant Chef Award – Stosie Madi, Parkers Arms
• Restaurant Chef Award – Pascal Aussignac, Gascon Connection
• Young Chef Award – April Partridge, The Ivy Restaurant
• Special Award – James Martin

(You can see a video of the awards on the Guild website here)

The gala dinner held at London’s beautiful Grosvenor House Hotel in Mayfair marked the 20th anniversary of the event and over 900 guests enjoyed a sumptuous banquet of seared scallops, roasted seabass and short rib of Aberdeen Angus beef.

With the Guild’s Steve Munkley and David Mulcahy hosting the event, guests were treated to a parade of past special award winners as part of the 20th anniversary celebrations. This included many of the greatest chefs in the country such as Albert Roux, Philip Howard and Anton Mosimann. This year’s winner was James Martin who was commended for the huge impression he has made on chefs and consumers alike throughout his 20 year career.

C&C made a full day of it (of course) starting with drinks on the Lord’s Terrace at the House of Lords before joining the celebrations at the Grosvenor. We are all now looking forward to next year’s event where we will once again be sponsoring the award for the best competition chef in the UK.