East Midlands chef through to finals in Chef of the Year

East Midlands chef Dean Crews has beaten off competition from hundreds of entrants to make it through to the finals of the British Culinary Federation’s national Chef of the Year 2010 competition.

Dean Crews is Executive Head Chef for The Finesse Collection and leads the kitchen at Opulence restaurant at Derby’s Cathedral Quarter Hotel as well as Merchants restaurant at Nottingham’s Lace Market Hotel. He was chosen as one of ten finalists after succeeding at a semi-final live cook off. Only 16 chefs were chosen to compete in the semi-finals after submitting a written application which included a 3-course menu.

The semi-finals took place on Monday 18th January at the University College Birmingham and competitors had just two hours to complete their menus and present them to a formidable line up of judges. Included in the panel were past winners who have all gone on to be awarded Michelin stars – Glynn Purnell, Richard Turner and Luke Tipping as well as the head judges, Idris Caldora and Roger Narbett both of whom are Masters of Culinary Arts.

The ten finalists including Dean will now battle it out in a live kitchen at Hotelympia hospitality exhibition at ExCeL London on 1st March. A 2 Michelin star French chef and a member of the Toque D’or Lyonnaises will fly from France to join the judges to help choose the 2010 Chef of the Year.

 Dean Crews commented on his success: “I am absolutely thrilled to have made it through to the final stage of such a prestigious competition and to follow in the footsteps of some of Britain’s top chefs. I love to hear all the fantastic comments we get from customers in Opulence and Merchants and it is a great honour to receive recognition from the experts in the industry too.”


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