Fancy cooking for legendary chefs Pierre Koffmann and Gary Jones? To win a meal at Le Manoir? To attend the City of Oxford Guild of Chefs award ceremony gala dinner at Trinity College? To be recognised at the OXINABOX FOOD AWARDS 2025?
Well, if you’ve got under four years professional experience and are cooking in a professional kitchen in Oxfordshire, whether a pub, cafe, restaurant, institution or an Oxford college, then now’s your chance because entries are open for The City of Oxford Guild of Chefs’ Junior Chef of the Year Competition.
With the annual competition returning for a third year on April 16, anyone hoping to compete in this prestigious competition needs to enter by March 16.
So what’s involved? The competition is a live cooking showcase where competitors must produce four kinds of canapés – one meat, one fish, one vegetarian and one plant-based, within three hours, with a focus on sustainability and environmental impact.
Each canapé category must be created using pre-determined ingredients, one mandatory, which will then be produced and judged by a panel of judges at the City of Oxford College, including Pierre Koffmann and Gary Jones.
The winners will be announced on the day, followed by the award ceremony gala dinner, held this year at Trinity College. To enter and find out more information go to https://oxfordguildofchefs.co.uk/competitions
As an extra bonus, for the first time The City of Oxford Guild of Chefs is introducing The OxFood Hero of 2025, an exciting brand new competition for chefs in the trade over 4 years, designed to inspire and motivate chefs from all ranks whether Chef de Partie, Junior Sous, Head Chef or any other.
Competitors are required to produce a show stopping dish with Koffmann’s Blue potatoes (Pierre Koffmann is the head of the The Food Heroes family) as the main element and star of the show, be it a bar snack, starter, main or dessert, in this competition on April 16. Under Koffmann’s expert direction, the panel of judges will crown the OxFood Hero of 2025. Applications are now live for this competition until March 14.Â
The winner will also be invited to the black-tie annual City of Oxford Guild of Chefs Gala Dinner and the prize is a meal for two at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay.
To enter either competition go to https://oxfordguildofchefs.co.uk/competitions
