Aspira Zagreb hosted one of the most important international gastronomic events held in Croatia so far – the regional semi-final of the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy. By the way, S.Pellegrino Young Chef is the most important world competition for chefs under the age of 30, and this semi-final is organized by Pago Croatia, to whom we thank for choosing Aspire as a partner in such a big event!
Young chefs from Hungary, Greece, Israel, Poland, Slovenia, Romania, Malta and Croatia competed for the final, which will be held next year in Milan. The chefs and their mentors prepared the dishes in the Aspire kitchen, where the evaluation took place, and the young chefs were assisted by the students of the Aspire Gastronomy course. The Greek Gregory Kikis won with his dish The Story of Cod. Apart from Gregory, Ivan Tartaro from Croatia and Žiga Koprivc, representative of Slovenia, also deservedly received their awards.
The Croatian representative at the competition, the sous chef of the ManO2 restaurant in Zagreb, Ivan Tartaro, received a special Aqua Panna Award for Connection in Gastronomy with his autumn-inspired dish “Grounded roots”. It is an important prize awarded by the mentors of all competitors, and it is awarded to the young chef who has shown the best understanding and connection of different cultures in food. Slovenian Žiga Koprivc won the S.Pellegrino Social Responsibility Award for his patriotic trout dish called “Just the two of us”.
We congratulate all the contestants on the creation of extraordinary dishes, and especially those awarded. The world rests on the young!
You can browse the gallery below.
