Four Chartwells’ chefs at Sevenoaks School put on an outstanding display at Hotelympia 2012, taking home several awards on 1 March.

In the competition classes, Hannah Ward, Sous Chef, competed for the first time, and was awarded a merit for her display in the Junior Celebratory Cake section.

Malcolm Wood, Head Chef, and Lukasz Stachewicz, Chef de Partie (who also competed for the first time), received a certificate of merit and the award for Best of the Day Food Safety for Live Theatre after cooking up a storm in the Essential Cuisine Chefs Team competition. Their menu was: oxtail tortellini with wild mushrooms, parsley and truffle; pan fried red mullet, courgette, mussels, samphire, fennel and niçoise olive purée with Essential Cuisine lobster glace; pheasant poached in Essential Cuisine chicken stock, butternut squash, sprouts, smoked bacon, chestnuts and crispy pheasant with Essential Cuisine red wine jus.

Malcolm Wood and Ben Sulston, Executive Chef, took to the live theatre stage in the Figgjo Masterclass, where both won gold medals and best in class awards. They cooked roast loin of venison, pommes Anna, artichokes, beetroot, spinach, apple and wild mushrooms, followed by cherry and chocolate délice with macerated cherries and mascarpone sorbet.

Malcolm Wood also competed in the School Catering Challenge, winning a bronze medal for his culinary efforts, textures of pear: pear sponge, jelly, mousse, poached and baked with almond praline, white chocolate and vanilla crème Anglaise.

Hotelympia is the UK’s largest foodservice and hospitality exhibition and took place at the ExCel exhibition centre, London, 26 February-1 March.

Catering Facilities receive high grade from environmental health inspection

April 2012: Sevenoaks School's catering facilities were inspected by the local environmental health partnership operated by Sevenoaks District Council and Dartford Borough Council. The facilities were graded at Level 5 (Very Good), the highest possible grade. The EHO commented that there was a fully functional and well documented food safety system in place that was well applied and that very high standards were observed. This is testament to the high standards applied by the Catering Manager and her team.