Lexus chef cooks rivals with bitter sweet taste!
29-year-old Jake Nicolson from Melbourne, who cooks at Circa, The Prince in bayside St Kilda , was recently announced the winner of the prestigious Lexus Appetite for Excellence Young Chef of the Year 2008 at Alexandria in Sydney. “My love for cooking grew as a kid,” he said. “My mother used to bake cakes and I’d lick the beaters. It’s the only thing I could possibly do. It’s one of those careers you have to live and breathe.”
British Michelin star chef Tom Aikens joined local food industry celebrities, including Tetsuya Wakuda, Luke Mangan and Lyndey Milan, to celebrate the announcement. Nicolson, who favours cooking fresh, organic meals from home-grown produce, beat five other young chefs in a three-hour cook-off. He prepared a chestnut and black truffle soup, a roasted saddle of highland hare and a wattle-seed creme brulee.
The finalists were required to prepare an entree and main course from a mystery box of ingredients, before whipping up a bavarois for dessert. Wakuda praised Nicolson for his three course offering. “It was a combination technique, beautiful presentation and most important, taste,” he said.
Mangan said Nicolson’s attitude and creativity caught the panel’s attention. “He shone through,” he said. “We were impressed with the product and his enthusiasm.” The win will take Nicolson to Italy, where he will represent Australia in the S.Pellegrino Cooking Cup in Venice next year. There he will have big shoes to fill. Last year’s winner of the Young Chef of the Year, Melanie Gowers from South Australia, went on to win the S.Pellegrino Cooking Cup.
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