The pressure was on last Saturday but Hospitality & Catering course student Macie May Bissett came up trumps as one of the winners of this round’s Rotary Young Chef of the Year competition, achieving the highest marks possible with her combination of Tempura Battered Monkfish (starter), Roasted cod with aromatic tomato sauce (main) and Vanilla panna cotta with poached fruits and granola (dessert). Macie was ably mentored by Course Manager Paul Mansfield with her three-courses.
HSDC South Downs hosted the competition, a well-established and successful event organised and promoted by Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland which features budding chefs preparing and cooking a three-course menu to be judged by hospitality and catering industry professionals. It is a four-stage national competition to support and encourage the development of cookery skills. A feature which added to the pressure was the requirement that the three courses all had to be healthy options. This event’s competitors, aged between 13 and 17, came from Bay House School & Sixth Form, Hayling College, HSDC and Park Community School.
The three competition winners will go through to the District Finals, again held here at HSDC on 29 February. In addition to advancing the next step, prizes donated by HSDC suppliers were given out to the top three winners.