HTA School of Culinary Art held their annual HTA In-Service Apprentice Chef of the Year Competition and let’s just say these cooks were far from spoiling any broth.
The nine recently qualified young apprentice chefs were selected to take part in the competition representing their training establishments. These chefs are industry-based students who completed their final block release in 2017 from the Chef Apprenticeship Programme at HTA.
They were chosen as semi-finalists for this competition based on their overall performance and marks practically and theoretically over three years. Following a cook-off held in May at the school, the nine finalists were selected. The winner was announced at the cocktail event held after the competition. This was attended by about 80 influential industry members, family members as well as the competition’s sponsors.
The panel of judges comprised executive chefs from leading establishments, last years’ winner of Chef of the Year 2017 and the managing director of Philafrica Foods, a member of the AFGRI Group.
The big winners were:
1st place: Hope Mdakane
2nd: Luca Brits
3rd: Amanda Mncube
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