By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food
Following his success in the UK & Ireland round of S. Pellegrino’s Young Chef 2015 competition, Mark Moriarty has been crowned the overall winner of the Worldwide event, featuring 20 of the World’s finest young chefs. Coming out on top with his signature dish of which was the only vegetarian dish to make it through to the grand final in Milan at the weekend: Celeriac baked in Barley and fermented Hay, cured and smoked Celeriac, Hazelnut, Celeriac and toasted Hay Tea.
Judged by a selection of seven of the Globe’s finest chefs, including the likes of Massimo Bottura and Gastón Acurio, the runner up dish came from Peruvian Maria José Jordan, representing Latin America with her dessert, ‘Immortal Technique’, followed by Norwegian Christian André Pettersen, representing Scandinavia, with his ‘East meets West’ dish.
Speaking of the competition, winner Mark Moriarty said: “It has been an honour to take part in this competition, having been able to present my dish to the Jury – a truly stellar line up of the world’s greatest Chefs. I am absolutely thrilled to have won the title of S.Pellegrino Young Chef 2015 for UK & Ireland – we don’t win enough of these kind of awards! A huge thank my mentor chef, Clare Smyth, for the advice and support she has given me throughout this journey.”