Young Chef Young
Waiter
2020

“The World’s best Chef and Waiter competition”

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2020 competition

Promoting Hospitality as a career of choice, a profession and a vocation. Young Chef Young Waiter is a national competition open to all young professional waiters and chefs from any background.

This renowned competition turned 40 in 2019 and we celebrated with a revamped and revitalised format, fully endorsed by UK Hospitality and the Restaurant Association.

We worked with leading figures from the hospitality industry to find the best young chef and waiter the UK has to offer.

The quality of the entries and the standard of performance of every single finalist in the competition was exceptionally high which meant that selecting the winners was a truly tough decision for our esteemed judges.

Young chef young waiter 2020

12 young chefs and 13 young waiters were selected to take part in the Competition Finals based on their online entries that captivated our judges.

They participated in the live YCYW United Kingdom and China & South East Asia competitions at 4 London venues on 25, 26 and 27 May 2021.

All 25 Finalists took part in a range of tasks devised by our expert judging panel which includes UK Head chef judge, Theo Randall UK Head waiter judge, Simon King, C&SEA Chair of Judges, Ching He Huang and C&SEA Head waiter judge, Andy Downton

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2020 Competition

2020 FINALS

The exciting Young Chef Young Waiter 2020 Competition Finals took place in London in 4 locations over 3 days in May 2021. The events had been rescheduled from late 2020 due to the series of UK lockdowns and were run in line with government guidelines.

The Finals: Dates and Venues:

Tuesday 25 May:

  • The Dorchester – UK Chef & Waiter Final
  • Theo Randall @ The InterContinental – UK Chef & Waiter Final
  • Adam Handling Chelsea – UK Chef & Waiter Final

Wednesday 26 May:

  • Kai Mayfair – China & South East Asia Chef & Waiter Final

Thursday 27 May:

  • Kai Mayfair – China & South East Asia Chef & Waiter Final
  • The best young chef and best young waiter Winners will be announced on 28 June at the Awards Party at The Dorchester.

The incredible 2020 prizes include:

First prize for both Chef and Waiter:

Mercedes-Benz London will provide a Mercedes Benz A Class Car for one year including insurance

EVA Air will provide a pair of Premium Economy return tickets (London to Asia)

Wynn will provide a week’s work experience at the Wynn Hotel in Macao including accommodation.

Their Michelin-starred restaurants include:

  • Sichuan Moon By Andre Chiang – 2 Michelin Stars
  • Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards 2020 #23 highest new entry award
  • 2020 Forbes Travel Guide’s ‘Restaurant of the Year’

Second prize for both Chef and Waiter:

Frerejean Frères Champagne will provide an expenses-paid overnight stay in their Maison and winery located in the Grand Cru village of Avize, Champagne, where they will be hosted by Mr Frerejean-Taittinger.

Other prizes include:

  • A bottle of Frerejean Frères Champagne for each Winner, Second Place and Third Place Chef and Waiter
  • Signed copy of Theo Randall’s cookery book The Italian Deli Cookbook: 100 Glorious Recipes Celebrating the Best of Italian Ingredients
  • Commemorative Finalists’ and Winners’ plates kindly provided by William Edwards and Steelite International

Watch our YCYW 2020 wrap up video

2020 Competition

2020 winners

The winners of the Young Chef Young Waiter UK and China & South East Asia 2020 competition were announced at The Dorchester in London.

  • Winner – Overall Chef of the Year: Peter Meechan, Gleneagles Hotel
  • Winner – Overall Chef of the Year: Marie Bouquet of TĪNG Restaurant, Shangri-La Hotel, At The Shard, London
  • Head chef judge Theo Randall announced the successful Young UK Chefs
  • Winner – UK Chef: Peter Meechan, Gleneagles Hotel
  • Second Place –UK Chef:Alexandra Henderson, The Lansdowne Club
  • Third Place – UK Chef:Valère Ruiz, 14 Hills
  • Head waiter judge Simon King announced the successful Young Waiters
  • Winner – UK Waiter: Florian David, The Waterside Inn
  • Second Place – UK Waiter:Hellie Honney, The Gleneagles Hotel
  • Third Place – UK Waiter:Declan Wilkins, The Hand and Flowers
  • Chairwoman of YCYW China & South East Asia Ching He Huang announced the China & South East Asia winners
  • Winner – China & South East Asia Waiter Chef: Tibor Palasti, The Sushi Bar Harrods
  • Second Place – China & South East Asia Waiter Chef: Qing Lee Chen, Imperial Treasure
  • Third Place – China & South East Asia Waiter Chef: Kevin Hoang, Lu Ban
  • Winner – China & South East Asia Waiter: Marie Bouquet TĪNG Restaurant, Shangri-La Hotel, At The Shard, London
  • Second Place – China & South East Asia Waiter: Simone Rizzo TĪNG Restaurant, Shangri-La Hotel, At The Shard, London
  • Third Place – China & South East Asia Waiter: Sabrina Aquilina TĪNG Restaurant, Shangri-La Hotel, At The Shard, London

Peter Meechan

2020 WINNING CHEF
chef

Marie Bouquet

2020 WINNING WAITER
waiter

History of
Young Chef
Young Waiter

Winners and judges have included some the industry’s great recognisable names– Theo Randall, Mark Sargeant, Marcus Wareing, Simon King, John Torode, Anne and Jamain Swarb, Jeremy King, Raymond Blanc OBE, Heston Blumenthal OBE, The Earl of Bradford and Lord Forte.

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