Box Hill Institute recently hosted the Les Toques Blanches Award of Excellence Culinary Competition, which rewards Victoria’s finest budding young ‘Masterchefs’.

Five future gastronomic stars from the Institute took part in the competition, and vied for prizes against some of the very best young chefs from William Angliss, NMIT, Holmesglen, Swinburne, Sofitel and Novotel on Collins.

The competition attracted industry and Institute personnel, and provided a great opportunity to showcase the calibre of the Institute’s facilities, students and staff – an opportunity that was capitalised on.

Each competitor was required to produce a three-course meal (four portions of each course) within 3.5 hours.

The first course was to be created from a set recipe that was provided on the day, for the main course each person was given a mystery box of ingredients, and for dessert the competitors were required to devise their own dessert, supplying both the recipe and ingredients.

The award presentation was held at the Sofitel later in the evening, where Box Hill Institute student Federico Rodriguez was announced as the overall winner, and awarded with the gold medal. Federico, who also works at the Circuz Bar and Restaurant, impressed the judges with his main of pan-seared kingfish with marron, oyster mushroom and fennel salad.

There was also success for four other Box Hill Institute students, with  David Robson, Kate Ager, Jung Moon Chang and Robert Franklin receiving bronze medals.

The Centre for Hospitality and Tourism Studies wished to extend a special thank you to teacher Daman Shrivastav, who coordinated the day and spent time with all the students, training and mentoring them to ensure that they were ready for the competition.