Stuart Tarff crowned Lexington's Chef of the Year 2016
Stuart Tarff, head of pastry at London Business School, has been named Lexington's Chef of the Year 2016, following a cook-off at the ninth annual LexChef competition last night (10 November).
His winning menu comprised of a four ways beetroot and goat's cheese salad starter; a main of cannon lamb with carrot panna cotta and lamb éclair; and a chocolate and orange mousse for dessert.
Tarff was competing against seven other finalists: Phil Read, head chef at GLG Partners; Tiago Ferreira, chef de partie at Knight Frank; James Garred, head chef at JLL; Tim Blake, head chef at Man Group; James Willis, senior sous chef at London Business School; Jamie Delande, head chef at Fidessa London; and Jack Malin, chef de partie at Linklaters.
The competition, which took place last week at Lexington's client site, Omnicom, was judged by Lexington Catering's chef director Rob Kirby; chef director of the Pig hotel group James Golding; pastry chef Claire Clark MBE; head chef at the Palomar Tomer Amedi; and food development director at Elior Peter Joyner.
As well as his trophy, Tarff wins a weekend at the Pig hotel and a meal cooked by Golding.
He said: "I knew that my dessert was going to be my strongest dish, so I just needed my other two to come together. It was such a great experience. I am still in shock but so pleased to show pastry chefs can cook as well as bake."
Kirby added: "The eight finalists worked incredibly hard throughout the competition and have shown real commitment and skill. Stuart's dishes all married up - he was strong from start to finish and absolutely deserved to win."
Emily Clark named Lexington's Chef of the Year 2015 >>
Tony Stuart named Lexington's Chef of the Year >>
Lexington crowns Hannah Westphalen LexChef 2013 >>
Latest video from The Caterer
