Chef Julien Richard wins 50th Prix Culinaire International Taittinger
Chef Julien Richard from Hotel Bendor, les îles Paul Ricard, has won the 50th anniversary Prix Culinaire International Taittinger, held in Paris yesterday (16 November).
Richard competed for France (Paris) against six other contestants from the UK, Japan, France (Alsace), Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland and received €10,000 (£8,600) Prix Culinaire International Pierre Taittinger' medal and trophy.
Nicolas Hensinger of La Taverne du Mont d'Arbois came second, winning €4,800, while Kenji Yoshimoto from the Intercontinental Tokyo Bay hotel in Japan came away with third place and €2,500.
The UK candidate was Rajkumar Holuss, originally from Mauritius and sous chef at the three-Michelin-starred Waterside Inn in Bray, Berkshire, who won the UK final of the competition for the second year in September. Competing in last year's international competition he placed second. As a finalist he received a trophy and certificate.
They also knew ahead of time that their dessert had to be an interpretation of a tarte a l'orange. The final results were announced at the Palais Garnier opera house in Paris.
The competition is open to chefs aged 24-39 with more than five years' experience and showcases classical French cooking. In the last 50 years it has previously been won by chefs including JoÁ«l Robuchon and Michel Roth.
The judging panel, a group that held 28 Michelin stars between them, included Le Gavroche chef Michel Roux Jr; Michel Roth; Jean-Paul Bostoen; Pierre Résimont; Stéphane Decotterd; Hiroshi Horita; Gérard Boyer; Régis Marcon; J Le Squer; Stéphanie Le Quellec; Guillaume Gomez; Michel Comby; Arnaud Lallement; and Ulf Wagner.
Executive chef at the Rosewood hotel in London, Amandine Chaignot, was also one of four kitchen judges (alongside Bernard Leprince, Christian Née and Lars van Galen), judging contestants on cleanliness, kitchen etiquette and organisation.
Holuss said the competition had been "very tough". He said: "I knew what I signed up for. I'm proud of what I've done because what I sent was good, flavour-wise. I was happy with my orange tart, it looked nice and it tasted nice as well. The biggest challenge was the reconstruction of the turbot; that was an issue."
Waterside Inn chef wins UK final of Taittinger Prix Culinaire >>
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Rajkumar Holuss wins Le Taittinger Prix Culinaire International UK final >>
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