A Lugarno chef has been recognised in one of the leading competitions for young chefs.
Brendan Ironside, 21, took home a gold medal in the 2017 Nestlé Golden Chef's Hat Awards.
The St George local is a commis chef at Sokyo at The Star and took part in one of eleven heats across the country, with the NSW cook-off seeing 15 teams step up to the plate.
Brendan and teammate Rebecca Merhi created a two-course menu of seared herb crusted lamb loin with poached lamb and leek mousse, green bean puree, braised leek, torched zucchini, whipped potato and jus for their main and a caramelised white chocolate bavarois, strawberry carpaccio with compressed apple, citrus curd and toffee crisp for their dessert course.
He entered the competition to see how he would stack up against other young chefs.
“I love the thrill of competing,’’ he said.
‘’The pressure you feel once in the kitchen really drives me.”
The awards have been running for 52 years and is Australia’s longest running culinary competition for young chefs. 2017 has seen more chefs enter across the country than ever before, with this year’s finalists set to go on to be some of the industry’s brightest talents.
The winning team from the NSW heat, Tyler Khor and Davy Dai, have secured themselves an all expenses paid trip to the national final in Sydney this September.
This year’s national winning team will be awarded a once in a lifetime culinary trip to Vietnam.
