Birthday boy Slade wins National Chef of Wales cook-off
Swansea chef Dermott Slade has been crowned 2004 National Chef of Wales at the Welsh International Salon Culinaire.
The consultant chef with Swansea College at Sketty Hall beat off competition from three other finalists last week at the North Wales Theatre and Conference Centre. As well as the trophy, he wins £1,000 and a semi-final place in the Craft Guild of Chefs' Knorr National Chef of the Year contest in September.
It was a double celebration for Slade, whose 33rd birthday also fell on the day of the competition. "To be number one in Wales is absolutely fantastic," he said. "I'm proud to be Welsh and part of the exciting cooking scene in Wales."
For the final, the chefs had 30 minutes to plan, and then three hours to prepare, a three-course meal from a mystery box of Welsh ingredients. Slade cooked up monkfish risotto with scallop, mussel and parsley soup; roast Welsh beef with carrot and honey parfait and bresaola and potato terrine; and, for dessert, blackberry yogurt ice and soft chocolate pudding with raspberry curd cream.
The other finalists were Nick Walton, 34, from Cross Lanes Country House Hotel, Marchwiel; Sean Cullingford, 31, from Lake Country House, Llangammarch Wells; and Gareth Dwyer, 24, of the Castle hotel, Conwy.
