English’s of Brighton hosts Chef Off competition

The Chef Off celebrates the best young chefs in the city and the winner is crowned Best Emerging Chef in Brighton & Hove 2019 and presented with a £250 prize from Kensington’s as well as a magnum of champagne from Laurent-Perrier.

The weather may have been mixed on the day, but the quality of the cooking was of a consistently high standard. The event was judged by Michael Bremner 64 Degrees and murmur; Steven Edwards Masterchef Professionals winner and etch.; and Yuri Magni, head chef of English’s.

Mr Edwards said: 'In the third year of the English’s Chef Off the bar was raised yet again. Michael, Yuri and myself had the envious job of tasting seven dishes from these creative chefs but the hard work was splitting the top three - where there were only a couple of points between them. I can’t wait for next year’s event already!’

Contestants included: Oliver Geering, Cin Cin; Lizzie Scarlet-May, La Choza; Ciaran Steer, Market; Jan Tlusty, The Paradiso Social; Michael Notman-Watt, Silo; Isobel Humbey, The Salt Room; and Hayley Pople, The Set.

The winning dish of local white fish, potato, bread and egg, was cooked by Jan Tlusty from Paradiso Social, who is a self-taught chef originally from the Czech Republic.

Jan grew up on an organic farm and is passionate about fermentation and working with local, organic produce. He gained experience working in Silo and Plateau in Brighton, before joining Jack from Wolfsmouth, who now operate out of The Paradiso Social.

Sponsors for the event were Bibendum wines and Spy Valley who supplied the wine for the guests, BNFish Sales and Kensington’s, suppliers of the stage and kitchen equipment.

The Chef off is an event managed by English’s of Brighton and takes place in early May each year.

To find out more, visit: www.englishs.co.uk