Silks Bistro In Competition
Silks Bistro and Champagne bar are proud to announce that they have been chosen to participate in one of the county’s most prestigious restaurant competitions The Cornish Challenge.
After gruelling day poring over the entries for the Cornish Challenge 2012, a panel of judges has selected six teams to represent their restaurants in the final to be held at Cornwall College on February 6.
In the first round, the entrants were tasked with designing a four-course menu using Cornish seasonal ingredients.
According to the judges, the standard was very high, making the job more difficult than ever, but the six teams that stood out to secure their place in the final were:
Bustophers Bar Bistro, Truro
The Ferryboat Inn, Helford Passage
Harbourside Restaurant at the Greenbank, Falmouth
The Rosevine, Portscatho
Rosewarne Manor, Connor Downs, and
Silks Bistro at The Atlantic Hotel, Newquay.
The Mill House at Trebarwith also deserves a mention as it narrowly missed out on a place and are first in reserve should any of the other teams not be able to take up their place.
Now, the six teams will be perfecting their chosen menus, which they must cook from scratch under competition conditions and serve to tables of invited guests and the judges on the night of the final.
The Cornish Challenge is an annual event, now firmly established in Cornwall’s food calendar and always hotly contested.
Importantly, service and presentation are tested alongside culinary expertise and flair and each team will be putting their six team members through their paces as the tension builds over the coming weeks.
The winning team will receive prizes worth over £1,000, including a cash prize of £100 for each team member, and of course, the Cornish Challenge crown for 2012.
The Challenge is a Cornwall Catering Excellence initiative, created by a group of Cornish businesses with links to the hospitality industry.
Its aim is to encourage and reward local restaurants and cafés who make the best of Cornwall’s fantastic produce and are great exemplars within an industry that is so important to the county’s economy.
Cornwall College is part of the Cornwall Catering Excellence group and plays a big part in the challenge.
Students of the college get the chance to learn from some of the best local restaurants and chefs by helping out and seeing the finalists in action on the night.
According to head of hospitality, Stuart Mathieson: “Taking part in ‘real’ occasions such as this, where they will be rubbing shoulders with great chefs and front of house teams is valuable experience for the students and shows them that jobs in the restaurant trade can be really rewarding – and good fun too.”
The partners of Cornwall Catering Excellence are Abbotts, Chaffins Country Range Foodservice, Cornwall College, Doble Quality Foods, Newquay Fruit Sales, Proper Cornish, Roddas and St Austell Brewery.
