Arthur Quinn, The Punchball Inn and Danny Young, Northcote Manor completed a cook-off at Sheffield City College on Thursday 11 June and Elly Wentworth, Manor House Hotel, Castle Combe, Ruth Hansom, The Ritz London, Connor Godfrey, Wiltons Restaurant competed at Le Cordon Bleu, London.

They will join the seeded finalists Danny Hoang from Colette’s at The Grove and the winner of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts Awards of Excellence in the final at The Restaurant Show, London Olympia on Tuesday 6 October.

All the finalists will attend the Mentor Day in the KNORR Kitchen in Leatherhead on Monday 7 September where they will be given key ingredients or specified dishes with which to create their menu and presented with vital information, rules and advice as well as focused demon-strations to ensure they are completely at ease with the process.

David Mulcahy, Vice President of the Craft Guild of Chefs and organiser of the competition says, “Young National Chef of the Year would be a tough challenge for an experienced chef never mind someone in their late teens or early twenties. These young finalists don’t just pos-sess culinary talent but the determination and work ethic needed to succeed at a high level. I wish every one of them well as they work towards the next stage of the competition.”

Mark Sargeant, Young National Chef of the Year Ambassador, adds: “Once again the standard of cooking in this competition has been fantastic.  I’ve been particularly impressed with the ef-fort made to take into account provenance and flavour. In essence, the finalists demonstrated great skills and cooked absolutely delicious food. I can’t wait to see and taste what they pro-duce in the final.”

The winner and runners up will be revealed along with The National Chef of the Year at an awards ceremony following the final on Tuesday 6 October.

For more information visit www.craftguildofchefs.org or follow @Craft_Guild #YNCOTY on Twit-ter.