Sage Hotel Wollongong commis chefs Billy Fox, 19 and Adriana Manfredi, 22 battled it out against ten of Australia’s best junior teams to win bronze medals for their entrée and main and a silver medal for their dessert course dishes. 

The event is Australia’s longest running culinary competition and is held over two days with teams cooking in front of a live audience. Mr Fox said he was proud to qualify as a national finalist this year.

“There’s always challenges working in an unfamiliar kitchen but we worked really well together and we’re happy with the food we presented,” Mr Fox said.

Billy and Adriana’s menu included an entrée of dukkah crusted ocean trout, poached prawn, avocado emulsion, pickled radish and saffron and ginger pearls and a main course of ash crusted smoked and poached lamb loin, roast carrot, beetroot jus, and enoki mushroom with red miso espuma. Their dessert course included variations of pumpkin, walnut crunch, sour cream ice-cream, brown sugar meringue and toasted oats and dark chocolate.