College Courts culinary talents served two national awards

A chef and sommelier from our University have cooked up a treat at national awards ceremony celebrating culinary excellence in the conferencing industry.

George Clifton and Pasquale Cardillo from College Court, the University’s conference centre and hotel, have returned from the Venues of Excellence annual culinary competition ‘The Cook and Serve Challenge’ on 29 October with wins in the ‘Best Main – Senior’ and ‘Best Wine Service – Senior’ categories.

The competition, between teams from the venue consortium’s members, is now in its 18^th year and showcases the very best aspiring talent within the catering teams. The competition asks entrants to prepare and serve a three course meal, suitable for an end of conference banquet, and accompanied by cocktails, appropriate wines and coffee.

George’s winning main course was a sumptuous cannon of lamb with black olive tapenade, roast Leicestershire baby carrots, carrot and truffle puree, crispy kale and butter roasted fondant potato. He and Pasquale were one of two teams from College Court to enter this year, competing amongst 14 teams in total.

Pasquale said: “I was absolutely over the moon that I won, I really enjoyed taking part and can’t wait for next year’s competition.”

George said: “I’m really thrilled to have won, it was a great achievement, especially when we had two teams from College Court and the extremely high standards that everyone set. I loved every minute of it and feel very proud.”

College Court’s Head Chef Ryan Richardson and Food and Beverage Manage Emma Pang also competed this year. You can view a selection of photos of the College Court's teams' efforts in the gallery below:

• Press release