Charlton House Chefs take the title- Oct 06

For the third time in five years, Charlton House has won the Association of Catering Excellence’s Ready, Steady, Cook challenge to find the best fast-cook chef team in contract catering.

The Charlton House dynamic duo, Lloyd Mann (executive head chef) and Jamie Higgs (fine dining head chef), who both work at the international law firm, Lovells, in High Holborn, outscored Everson Hewitt in a closely fought competition, with Aramark coming third.

Nine other teams, representing Elior, Holroyd Howe, Baxter Storey, Bartley Mitchell, Lexington, Director’s Table, Baxter Platts, The In-House Catering Company and ISS Eaton contested the event, which was held at the Institute of Engineering & Technology in London last night (10th October).

A panel of judges scored each pair over a 30-minute head-to-head cook-off that followed the popular TV show format.

Temperatures reached boiling point as the teams battled for the title in front of an audience of 300 people. Each was given a basket of set ingredients and had just thirty minutes to produce a two-course meal. The competitors had to show knife skills, sportsmanship, flavour, presentation skills, creativity, and were also scored for their entertainment value throughout the cook-off.

The winning dishes left the others standing. Lloyd and Jamie produced a duo of fish (bass & tuna) with citrus cous cous, ratatouille, glazed asparagus and a confit of garlic, followed by basil and lime infused pineapple with chocolate mousse and strawberry crumble.

Robyn Jones, chief executive and founder of Charlton House, said: ”We are all so proud of them! They went up against all of our major competitors and showed the whole industry that Charlton House’s craft skills are the best. To have won three times in five years and come second for the other two says a lot about the calibre of our chefs and our quality standards.”

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