Restaurant Associates and Lexington triumph at Ready Steady Cook
Restaurant Association and Lexington won first and second place trophies at the Association of Catering Excellence’s (ACE) annual Ready Steady Cook competition – an event which champions up and coming young talent – held at East Wintergarden in Canary Wharf on 28 September.

Restaurant Association and Lexington won first and second place trophies at the Association of Catering Excellence’s (ACE) annual Ready Steady Cook competition – an event which champions up and coming young talent – held at East Wintergarden in Canary Wharf on 28 September.
ACE Ready Steady Cook – The Next Generation saw 14 teams of two chefs from the foodservice sector, which included chefs aged under 25 and many apprentices, plan and prepare a main course and dessert within 30 minutes using ingredients they have only discovered half an hour before in front of a 300-strong live audience.
The main items were guinea fowl, a cannon of lamb, black pudding, a selection of fresh seasonal vegetables, fruits and storecupboard ingredients supplied by British Premium Meats, 4degC and kff.
As well as the overall winners, the judges were on the lookout for a chef under the age of 25 for the Young Chef award.
Competing for first prize were, Bartlett Mitchell, BaxterStorey, Blue Apple, Genuine Dining Company, Harbour and Jones, HIT, Holroyd Howe, ISS Food & Hospitality, Lexington, Lusso, Restaurant Associates, Sodexo, The Good Eating Company and Vacherin.
The overall winners were Terry O’Riordan and Faye de Souza from Restaurant Associates (pictured), whose winning menu featured pan-fried lamb with charred cauliflower, pickled courgette, tahini yoghurt and crispy shallots; dessert was smoked, salted dark chocolate mousse, pickled blackberries, roasted plums and spiced crumble.
The judges were Mike Reid, executive chef at M Restaurant; Adam Handling, founder of The Frog Restaurant and his 19-year-old apprentice Connor Blades; and Daniel Ayton, world vice president of the World Master Chef Society.
“I didn’t expect the quality to be so good considering they just had 30 minutes; there was so much talent in the room,” comments Handling.
“The standard overall was very good, but the quality and presentation of the winning menu was outstanding,” adds Reid.
In second place were Stuart Tarff and Louise Roberts from Lexington, and in third place were Imanol Beitia and Marc Bright from Vacherin.
Louise Roberts from Lexington was the winner of the Next Generation Young Chef Award.
Every chef in the competition was given a personalised Bragard chef jacket and a goody bag from prize sponsor Collins King, and first prize was a meal for the chefs and their partners at Monica Galetti’s ‘Mere’ Restaurant.
The raffle on the evening raised £700 for Wiggly Worm – a charity supported by ACE for two years and has raised over £20,000 for so far.
It was set up to inspire vulnerable or disadvantaged people, and motivate them through food.
The chopping boards and pans, provided by Nisbets, will be donated to the charity.
Leftover food ingredients will be distributed by City Harvest to organisations that help homeless people in London.