Farnborough Chefs Take Top Cooking Prize

Students from Farnborough College of Technology have beaten five other colleges at a high-profile cooking competition in London.

The catering team were awarded winners at the Zest Quest Asia Gala Dinner & Awards Night on Monday 16 February, hosted at the Hilton London Heathrow Terminal 5 hotel.

Hosted by celebrity chef Cyrus Todiwala, Zest Quest Asia invited catering colleges from across the UK to cook a four-course Pan Asian menu and make a presentation to judges, designed to highlight their knowledge of Asian cuisine and the evolution of international cuisine styles and sustainability.

Students Rizza Eaglestone, 19, from Blackwater, Liam Edmunds, 18, from Sandhurst and James Spray, 18, from Farnborough took up the exhilarating challenge and represented Farnborough College of Technology along with their lecturer, Alex Wilcock.

Mrs Wilcock said:
“The catering department are overwhelmed with the result; we are so proud of our chefs who have worked very hard over the past four months, putting in extra hours and time to master their dishes and to practise their 10 minute presentation.”

“The competition was fierce but Farnborough’s students blew the competition out of the water with their Thai dishes, including Crispy Soft-Shelled Crab with Thai Cucumber Salad and Street Food Chicken.”

The comments from the judges were very complimentary about Farnborough’s team. The panel said the students were able to offer the complete package from planning to the execution of the dishes, and that they demonstrated their knowledge on the culture and diversity of their choices, which was delivered within the students’ presentation.

The parents of the team members were there to join in with the jubilant celebrations and the next stage of the competition will now take the team to Colombo in Sri Lanka for a week’s training, an amazing prize and will most definitely put Farnborough on the competition circuit as a college to be inspired by.