The winners of the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs’ UK Finals for the Young Professionals of the Year 2012 were last night revealed at a glittering ceremony at the prestigious Dorchester hotel in London.

Taking the top accolade of Young Chef of the Year was Daniel Marshall of Imperial, Great Yarmouth, while Arnaud Bardary of The Maze in London scooped Young Sommelier of the Year.

Each winner beat off stiff competition from 11 seven of their peers to take home first place in each category.

For Marshall this involved creating a three course menu for 4 people out of a previously undisclosed box of ingredients, in just three hours.

Each menu was judged on presentation, originality and taste, with Marshall’s ambitious menu of pan fried bream, glazed samphire and tomato, red onion and chilli salsa to start, followed by loin of lamb, red wine reduction, fondant potatoes, glazed asparus and roasted beetroot and black pudding, and finishing with orange and thyme pannacotta, pistachio brittle, orange caramel cream and honey ice cream, taking the top spot for creativity and exceptional execution.

Narrowly missing out in the extremely close competition was runner up Lee Warren from Charwells at Haileybury, with Neil Bell from Turnberry in Scotland taking third place.

Chairman of judges, Daniel Galmiche from the Vineyard at Stockcross praised the ‘quality and creativity’ of the contestants and emphasized how important it is to give young talent a competitive forum, from which they can grow and develop.

In an equally close battle Bardary fought for top Young Sommelier against Loic Avril of The Fat Duck, Maidenhead who took second place and Roumain Bourger of The Vineyard, Newbury who came third. Each entrant was judged on their theory, service and accuracy of blind tasting, with Bardary partcularly impressing judges with his all round knowledge and ability.

Bailli Délégué, Phillip Evins, said that the entrants in both categories this year were ‘exceptional’, adding:

“The knowledge, creativity and professionalism of every entrant never fails to amaze and impress the judging panels and although we can only have one winner in each category, all the finalists should be proud of making it as far as they have.

“I would especially like to congratulate Bardary and Marshall, who were up against some very fierce and talented competitors. It is always daunting to have to perform in a competitive environment but they both held their own and thoroughly deserve their winning positions”.