The head chef at a seafood restaurant in Margate, Kent, has made the final of the prestigious National Chef of the Year competition.
Craig Edgell from two AA Rosette Buoy and Oyster competed against 40 other chefs to secure his place in the competition organised by The Craft Guild of Chefs.
Set the task of creating an amuse-bouche or pre-dessert with the theme ‘a taste of summer’ using seasonal ingredients, Craig utilised locally caught brown crab to produce a brown crab tart.
Craig has been head chef at Buoy and Oyster since 2019 and overseas the busy kitchen which can cater for up to 350 covers a day during the peak summer period. The restaurant is a big sister to the beachfront fish and chip takeaway Beach Buoys that occupies the unit below.
Craig’s third time entering National Chef of the Year, he comments: “To make the top 40 three years in a row was amazing in itself. To reach the top 10 this year is incredible. It makes it all worth it, with the long hours and the training we do as chefs.
“Each time I didn’t get further than the top 40, it pushed me further as a chef and changed the whole way I thought about food and presented food. It’s not taking failure as a negative but as something to work with to get where you want to be.
“I’m going to bring it home now.”
Craig goes through to the final on Tuesday 8th October 2024 where he will serve up his original menu from the online entry stage.
