Chef, Chef of the Year | Filip August Bendi won Chef of the Year 2021
On Tuesday, Filip August Bendi was named Chef of the Year 2021. He will be Norway’s candidate for the world’s most prestigious cooking competition – Bocuse d’Or 2022 and 2023.
A total of five chefs fought for the title at Vulkan Arena in Oslo on Tuesday night.
Filip August Bendi, who walked away with the victory, is 32 years old and comes from Sandnes. He works on a daily basis as a creative developer for Thon Hotels, which is based at Hotel Bristol in Oslo.
Second place went to 29-year-old Håkon Solbakk from Nærøysteine in Nord-Trøndelag. Solbakk works as a kitchen manager at Speilsalen in Trondheim.
The winner of Young Chef of the Year 2021 was 24-year-old Andrea Svendsen. She works as a chef at Bula Neobistro in Trondheim.
Seafood on the menu
The five experienced competition chefs in Chef of the Year cooked food consisting of whole turbot with crayfish, collected goods from the seabed and coast, Norwegian apples, celery root, shallots and dairy butter as mandatory ingredients in the barrel assignment.
Then they went through the plate task. Then they had to make a trio of autumn vegetables, a variety of harvested goods from forests and fields, as well as dairy cream, which was to be combined with organic Hovelsrud chicken.
The duelists in Young Chef of the Year, winner Andrea Svendsen and silver winner Siriyaporn Rithisirikrerg, prepared dishes. An appetizer consisting of chicken eggs, kale and Norwegian cheese. The main course consisted of rustic tomato, spotted catfish and parsley root, leeks or cauliflower.
Experienced winner
The Bocuse d’Or competition was first organized in 1987 by French chef Paul Bocuse, after whom competitors are named. It is considered the world’s most prestigious competition in individual culinary arts, referred to as the unofficial World Cup of Chefs.
Filip August Bendi, is 32 years old and from Sandnes. He did his apprenticeship at Tango in Stavanger, and has worked at renowned restaurants in Copenhagen, Stockholm and New York. In 2015, he started as head chef for NB Sørensen Annen Etage in Stavanger. He participated in the National Championships for apprentices in 2007 and 2008, and has participated in Bocuse d’Or as the commissioner for Gunnar Hvarnes in 2010 and 2011. He became a member of the national team of chefs in 2015, participated in the National Championships in 2018, and was a candidate in Chef of the Year in 2017 and 2019.
(© NTB)