Teams from ten of Accor's Sydney hotels have competed in the NSW heat of the National Golden Plate Awards, with The Menzies hotel taking out the top spot.
The awards follow a Masterchef theme, with one head chef and one front-of-house person combining to create a three course menu using a mystery box of ingredients, supplemented by a pantry of supplies.
Held at Ultimo Tafe's The Apprentice Restaurant, the awards are designed to challenge staff to be more creative in their cooking. Each team also had to come prepared with their own table decorations, knives and equipment and had half an hour to workshop ideas for their menus.
The Menzies Hotel was awarded first prize, Ibis Sydney Airport took out second place and the Novotel Brighton Beach came in at third after chef Tony Luo dished up a "fish rice" inspired by Heston Blumenthal and created by turning a fish fillet into rice grains by first blending the fish to a fine paste then passing it through a steamer tray into a pot of boiling water to form grains of 'rice'.
The secret ingredients cannot be revealed as other state finals are still to be held, however Menzies' chef Ryuji Yashiki prepared a three course lunch menu that was deemed to be the most creative. Front-of-house team mate, Donna Peoples proved knowledgeable about the menu and which Tik Tok wine best complemented the flavours of the dishes.
Judges called in to oversee the competition include Adam Moore; corporate executive chef with George Weston Foods; Megan Sutherland, food technologist who developed some of the King Island blue cheeses and Andrew Howard, account manager for Fonterra. The final judge was Gaynor Reid, media relations manager for Accor, who provided a "layperson's viewpoint".
Karen Sainsbury, champion of Accor's Food and Beverage Committee, said "The Golden Plate Awards are a great way to showcase the skills, creativity and knowledge of our chefs and waitstaff and allow them to benchmark with their peers. While it's a fun day, it really allows them to see what chefs at other hotels are doing and to improve the marriage between chefs and waitstaff and allow them to see both sides of the equation."
The National Title will take place on Bastille Day, 14 July, with winners from each state competing for the Accor Golden Plate award.
