NZ Competitors Win Medals and Top Awards at Culinary Competition

Sep 05, 2024

Two young New Zealand chefs – Emily Morgan and Anshul Gurung – were awarded medals and awards at the prestigious Nestlé Golden Chef’s Hat Award competition held in Melbourne this week.

Emily and Anshul aged 18 and 24 years respectively, impressed the judges with the execution and delivery of their three-course menus to earn the haul of medals. Emily won a gold and two silver medals, as well as the Most Creative Use of a Nestle Product Award. Anshul received three silver medals plus the Best Savoury Award and a $2.5K tuition package.

This was the first time both of them had competed at the Grand Finals. Emily won the North Island regional heat of the competition earlier this year. A student chef at AUT, she entered the Trans-Tasman event because she likes to challenge herself and pick up every opportunity she can while training to become a chef.

Representing the South Island at the event, Anshul is no stranger to culinary competitions, having competed in the Golden Chefs regional finals once before. Anshul says he decided to enter the competition again because he had learnt a lot from his previous experience and liked to stretch himself by competing in the event.

Both competitors were up against nine other young top chefs from across Australia who were all vying to be crowned Golden Chef of the Year. They developed and perfected their three-course menus in the lead-up to the live cook-off.

Emily’s menu comprised an entrée of charred, pickled and tuile carrot with a honey whipped tofu. That was followed by a main of rostbiff with Buondi coffee bean rub, saffron potato gratin, smoked mushroom and leek cannelloni. Dessert was a dark chocolat cremeux, raspberry gel and dark chocolate soil.

Anshul’s menu was a creamy pea mousse, citrus gel, smoked ricotta and chilli macadamia entrée. Main comprised rost biff with silver beet, butternut and potato terrine, charred onion puree and spiced butternut jus. To finish things off, his dessert was a French vanilla and raspberry entremets with white chocolate and coconut crumble, macerated berries and dark chocolate.

The chefs were judged by expert judges from the Australian Culinary Federation, NZChefs and Nestlé Professional who assess professional practices, presentation and the all-important taste factor, to globally recognised standards.

NZChefs judge Geoff Scott says being part of the Golden Chef’s Hat competition gives the next generation of chefs the opportunity to put themselves to the test, make connections and learn from one another.

“Both Emily and Anshul delivered some stand-out dishes on the day while under immense pressure. Just to make it this far and then to win medals plus awards is a significant achievement that they can both be hugely proud of.”

Overall winner of the event was Archer Houghton who won a World Chef’s Congress 2024 travel and work experience in Singapore valued at $10K.

For close to six decades, Nestlé Golden Chefs has been proudly supporting more than 7,500 chefs to advance their culinary careers across Australia and New Zealand.