Head chef Ben Taylor, 34, edged out his chef de partie workmate Thomas Westerland, 24, whose home is in Cardiff, Jack Davison, 23, sous chef from Deganwy Quay Hotel and Spa, Deganwy who was runner up in the contest for the second time and Nathan Davies, 25, from Aberystwyth.

The closely contested final brought the curtain down on the Welsh International Culinary Championships at Coleg Llandrillo, Rhos-on-Sea, which featured four days of high standard competitions for chefs and waiting staff from across the UK.

Taylor said: “I’m absolutely blown away. For my first competition I wasn’t expecting to do as well as I have done. I thought getting through to the final was a good achievement. It’s a hell of an honour and I will be very proud to represent Wales in the UK National Chef of the Year contest. It will be nice to promote Welsh cooking on a bigger scale.

“I am very proud of myself for impressing some fantastic chefs on the judging panel. All four chefs in the final cooked really well and any one of them could have won.”

For the first time this year, the contest was thrown open to Wales born chefs now working outside the country, a move which made it possible for Ben and Thomas to enter.

Taylor will now automatically go through to the UK semi-finals of the National Chef of the Year contest. He also won an all expenses paid culinary trip to the Netherlands, including a place in two Michelin-starred restaurants in north Amsterdam.

Ben’s winning menu opened with a starter of poached tail of Welsh lobster, claw tortellini, soy and ginger broth, darkon radish and salty fingers. Main course was hickory smoked loin of Bwlch venison, it’s own faggot, mushroom puree, glazed onions and savoy cabbage. Dessert was caramelised banana soufflé, banana yoghurt ice cream, salted toffee popcorn and butter chocolate sauce.

The competition was organised by the Culinary Association of Wales (CAW) and main sponsor was Food and Drink Wales, the Welsh Assembly Government’s department representing the food and drink industry.