In the Palmengarten Gesellschaftshaus, the wooden spoons were swung on Monday, October 22. Frankfurt's up-and-coming chefs were lined up to compete for the title of "Kochtalent 2018" with lots of creativity and exciting dishes. In 2017, this culinary competition was launched by the Frankfurt Gastronomy Initiative in cooperation with the Genussakademie, the WAOH communications and event agency and supported by the City of Frankfurt's Department of Economic Affairs. The aim is to promote young talents who support successful and well-known chefs with their daily work and learn from them in order to eventually go their own way.
City Councillor and Head of the Department of Economic Affairs Markus Frank, who himself sat on the jury, knows how important excellent gastronomy is for the image of a city like Frankfurt: "Enjoying together in a select ambience is the social experience of our time. Last but not least, the range of attractive gastronomy on offer is an international location factor that should not be underestimated. The innovative and very communicative event format ‚Kochtalent' is a talent platform for up-and-coming chefs, a new event for the gastronomy and creative location and also a new industry highlight for the local companies from the food industry, which come up with incredibly exciting and modern apprenticeships."
six chefs had battled it out in the semi-finals and cooked a six-course menu in succession, one more exciting than the next. HR's Nicole Abraham hosted the evening, announcing the six champions: Abrahan Gabriel Cabanillas (La Cevi), Lisa Schmidt (Holbeins), Vincenzo Ruopolo (Lella Mozzarella), Mario Picard (Roomers), Georgios Krokos (WISAG) and Jörn Klein (Vai Vai) competed for the talent crown in the final.
Both the jury - made up of the head of the department of economics Frank, host Robert Mangold, Bastian Fiebig from the Journal Frankfurt, star chef Mario Lohninger and Ricky Saward, cooking talent 2017 and chef at the star restaurant Seven Swans - and the guests, who were also entitled to vote, visibly had a hard time choosing their favourite. The six contestants then also gave their all to convince the taste buds of the jury and the audience and thereby also conquer their vote. In an exciting final, Georgios Krokos finally won the race for the coveted trophy.
Frank draws a very satisfied conclusion: "This was an all-round coherent and successful event, which proves how lively Frankfurt's gastro scene is and how many silent talents at the stove are just waiting to be brought into the light of day." Last year's winner Ricky Saward has already shown it: he became head chef at Seven Swans shortly after his victory and also kept the Michelin star in the house with his consistently vegetarian and regional orientation.
Director of the Economy Markus Frank emphasized in his closing speech how attractive the profession of chef is and what an important role the competition for the cooking talent of the year plays in showing the positive sides of the profession. Anyone who was able to experience the atmosphere in the kitchen for themselves can only emphasise this: Here, people were not cooking against each other, but with each other, and afterwards, of course, they were also celebrating! The planning for the 3rd event of this kind has already begun, it is to take place in 2019. We are excited about the next talents and congratulate Georgios Krokos on the victory!
