How Alex Angelogiannis won NCOTY 2024 by drawing from his Greek childhood

Angelogiannis, who has been promoted to head chef of Glenturret Lalique since winning the competition in October, grew up in Athens before studying International Culinary Arts at the University of West London. He wasn't set on being a chef from a young age, despite always enjoying cooking with his family, and had originally planned to be an architect. However, he caught the hospitality bug while working in a bar and realised that cheffing would deliver a pay cheque a lot quicker than architecture.

His career began at John Torode's Luxe in London's Spitalfields, after which he worked in a series of venues in Aberdeen before being offered his first head chef role at the age of 26, a moment he describes as career-changing.

"I thought ‘what am I doing?'," he explains. "I needed to get away and start again. I needed to go to Michelin-starred kitchens or restaurants with multiple rosettes so I could learn everything to then go into a higher position in a Michelin-starred kitchen."

The chef travelled to Copenhagen to work at Kødbyens Fiskebar under head chef Jamie Lee, who taught him about fermentation and preservation, before taking a role at the Galvin brother's Pompadour by Galvin under head chef Dan Ashmore. Since 2019 he has worked with Mark Donald, first at Number One the Balmoral and latterly at the two-Michelin-starred Glenturret Lalique restaurant. The kitchen there can now boast a Roux Scholar in 2022 winner Jonnie Ferguson as well as a National Chef of the Year, and it had been a kitchen conversation following Ferguson's victory that set Angelogiannis on his path.

He says: "We were joking about it and Mark said, ‘you should do this'. We were in the middle of service and I was like, ‘yeah, sure, alright'. But as I started looking into it, I thought, ‘oh, this is a really big deal and I need to take it seriously'."

The 2024 National Chef of the Year brief appealed to Angelogiannis where others had not because it was suited to incorporating Greek influences. The finalists were tasked with serving a starter on the theme of "love food, hate waste" and a main course showcasing Lumina lamb.

Angelogiannis says: "One of the main reasons I wanted to enter was because of the opportunity to cook lamb. We're big lamb eaters in Greece and I love cooking it. I'd looked at a couple of other competitions the year before but they either hadn't been about something I was really interested in or the protein didn't pull me. With this one I thought I had to do it because I can make it my own."

The chef's starter, ‘line-caught mackerel, guts and all', saw mackerel lightly cured and torched before being served with mackerel roe emulsion (or taramasalata), a green sauce and furikake. The fish was cured in the pulp produced when passing the sauce and the frames and guts were used to make a shoyu and garum, to season the dish.

The main course was barbecued lamb loin glazed with tamarind, slow-cooked lamb rib finished over coal, sliced homemade lamb shoulder coppa, an offal dolma, fermented red pepper, pickled cucumber and lamb sauce. Angelogiannis says he particularly wanted to serve lamb rib, which he slow-cooked with anchovies, mint and garlic, as it is reminiscent of the dishes he had eaten with his family while growing up.

In total he showcased five cuts of lamb, with the Greek dolma containing fillet and kidney, which had been set with rice and dill in a lamb mousse before being lightly steamed and finished with lamb fat on the barbecue. Angelogiannis had also made a coppa of lamb, which was served with his main course.

He says: "As soon as I entered the competition, I ordered a lamb leg and a lamb shoulder and made charcuterie. Five months later I had that ready for the final. To make it, I prepped the lamb, salted it and placed it in red wine, port and spices. Then I washed it, hung it and let time do its thing. If you start with a nice piece of lamb, it's going to be delicious."

Finally, the chef served a chocolate and beetroot dessert with lovage and brambles.

A menu inspired by the Glenturret Lalique restaurant

As well as reflecting his Greek upbringing, Angelogiannis incorporated elements from the Glenturret Lalique restaurant in his menu, including the herb sauce served with his starter. He says: "The food I cooked didn't just represent myself, I was also representing where I work. Even though I created the menu and the recipes and put my heritage in there, they were things that I've cooked many times under Mark. Things I could do with my eyes closed. I didn't take many risks, I just did what we do every day at Glenturret with a little twist and with my personal touches. In a way [the title] is also a testament to what we do up here."

Angelogiannis has yet to enjoy his prizes, which include a two-day culinary trip to Liverpool, a three-Michelin-starred meal and an overnight stay in London. Even the magnum of Champagne Collet from Hallgarten & Novum Wines has remained on ice, ready to celebrate the arrival of he and his partner's child.

He says: "The best prize has been the way the competition has made the people who have supported me feel, like my parents and my family. I didn't anticipate how much it would mean to them. It's been a real high – it feels really good to be part of such an established group among the previous winners."

Angelogiannis says he plans to continue to work with Donald to achieve more accolades for Glenturret Lalique restaurant and train a new generation of talent. However, he does see the possibility of a return to Greece.

He says: "Who knows what will happen in the future? It's not the right time, but I'd be tempted to go back to Greece and do my own thing. Ideally, I'd like to open a restaurant with a fire pit and a 12-seat counter on a Greek island overlooking the sea, with just me and one other person cooking."