There were hospital chefs from across the south, including Bristol, Isle of Wight, Hampshire Hospital, Southern Healthcare, Salisbury, Gosport and Sussex. The event took place at Newlyns Cookery School. It sells local farm produce, which contestants were able to select for Class 2, Ready Steady Cook.  

Ronnie Parrett-Harris, chairman of the HCA Wessex Branch, said: “Newlyn’s cookery school was an amazing location. The Wessex Branch Salon Culinaire is an annual event where Hospital chefs have been given the platform to showcase their skills and compete with other like-minded chefs.

“This is a great opportunity for them to step out of their normal surroundings and compete and produce high quality food. We hope this event will give the chefs a buzz to enter more competitions such as The NHS Chef of the year competition.”

There were live classes covering Curries, Ready Steady Cook and butchery and presentation of the classic Sauté Chicken Chasseur dish where the ingredients were identical, but the final dishes were all different in taste and presentation.

There were four static classes, where chefs produced two fruit tartlets, a trio of desserts and trio of tapas and the traditional ‘time for pie’ which saw a variety of different pies. The standard and quality that was produced challenged the judges when marking with some scoring very close to the knuckle for several of the classes.

Nick Vadis, culinary ambassador - NHS Supply chain, commented: “As a judge on the day and it was great to see, the skill and energy of the NHS Chefs pushing themselves in the competition arena. All competitors are a credit to their trusts raising the profile of the great work that goes on in out NHS Kitchens.”

These types of events offer NHS chefs a day when they can showcase their artistic skills and also is great for moral building and broadening their horizons. The HCA Wessex Branch selected Sophie’s Legacy as their nominated charity where £675 was raised via a raffle.

Iain Robertson, national chair of the HCA, added: “I acted as judge co-ordinator for four of the classes. The standard of the entries was exceptional, and the professionalism of the judges was fantastic. There was a real buzz around the place, and it was clear that everyone involved enjoyed themselves.”