As ever, this year’s Foodservice Australia event brought with it the Chef of the Year 2022 competition. It was fought knock-out style across three days from 23 – 25 October this year.

Konstantin Putkin from The Boatshed reigned supreme. The previous semi-finalist won his heat, the semi-final, and the grand final.

In addition to the title of Chef of the Year, Konstantin also walked away with $6,000 in cash and other valuable prizes from the event’s major sponsors.

“Honestly I am truly humbled and amazed that I managed to pull off the win against three of my peers who are so incredibly talented in their own rights,” said Konstantin.

“What’s even more humbling is to have been the first winner based in Tasmania, we have such a rich and diverse landscape of chefs and culinary ideals on our little island, and, hopefully, my win can pave the way for more Tasmanian-based chefs to enter the big stage and show the country what they have up their sleeves!”

Led by John McFadden, this year’s judging panel comprised of Claire Van Vuuren, Head Chef & Co-Owner from Bloodwood Newtown,  Amanda Fuller, Group Executive Chef from Sam Prince Hospitality Group, Naomi Lowry from Kinsela’s and the Courthouse Hotel, Gary Johnson, National Executive Chef from ALH Hotels, Jamie Gannon, Group Executive Chef from Laudy Hotels and Telina Menzies, Executive Chef from Australian Venue Co.

Head Judge John McFadden said Konstantin’s performance was amazing across every round.

He explained, “Konstantin lifted throughout each cook-off, maintaining an extremely high level of consistency and techniques across each criterion. Paired with dynamic flavours on the plate it was a winner.”

“The benchmark for Chef of the Year has certainly been raised to an extremely high level,” added John. “It is amazing to see the calibre of chefs entering this competition and the prestige attached to being selected.”

The finalists (Konstantin, Dylan Williams from MOKE, Richmond Rodrigues from Muse Kitchen, and Tom Hitchcock from Spirit House) had to cook two dishes from a mystery box of ingredients in one hour, all in front of the judges and crowd.

“This was a real pressure test,” said John of the mystery box challenge.

“The mystery box was very challenging, and all four chefs performed phenomenally well.”

Plans are already underway for next year’s event, which will be held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from 30th April – 2nd May 2023. Entries will open soon.