Foodservice firm Brakes and John Lewis have announced the winners of the Britdish chef competition who will head to Rungis wholesale market in Paris.

The winning dishes, created by five of John Lewis’ talented chefs, will be served at the department store’s Place to Eat or Brasserie restaurants nationwide during British Food Fortnight, which takes place between 18 September and 3 October.

Entrants were asked to create a dish for one of three categories - a sandwich, main or dessert. Three finalists from each of the three categories were invited to Brakes Food Innovation Centre in London’s Covent Garden for a one hour live ‘cook off’. Finalists had one hour to prepare, cook and serve their dish from scratch, using British ingredients and autumnal produce, provided by Brakes, wherever possible.

Judging the competition were Marco Zacharia and Philippe Bacconnier decided Richard Lister, chef at John Lewis Newcastle was a worthy winner in the main meal category. Robin Benson, chef at John Lewis Liverpool was acclaimed the dessert champion while Joanne Tandy, chef at John Lewis Nottingham, was judged to be the best sandwich maker.

Zacharia said: “It was an absolute pleasure to see our chefs’ passion for British food, creativity and dedication shine through, and we believe it is this gratification that makes our John Lewis catering outlets so popular with our customers.”

The winners won an all expenses paid trip to the Rungis food market in Paris which originated in the 10th century and is now the largest wholesale food market in the world - spanning 10 hectares in the southern suburbs of the city.

Brakes development chef Matt Cull said: “We are delighted to be the lead foodservice partner for British Food Fortnight for the 6th year - and the Britdish competition has been an exciting element that we were pleased to run in partnership with John Lewis.”

Topics