Congratulations to Anish Jalabhay who represented the Academy in the regional finals of the Rotary Young Chef competition.
Anish had to cook a three course menu in two hours. He was the only student from a secondary school, all the rest being older and from catering colleges.
He created an Italian-style menu, inspired by his trip to Italy. The judges commended him for his menu construction, which they said was the best in the competition. Anish has been cooking since he was three and narrowly missed out on making the final round of the competition which was held at Merton College.
He said: "I just love cooking, it helps with stress and as I have a lot of stress coming up (when he takes his GCSEs), I will definitely carry on cooking. Being in the competition was great, I really got to explore flavours. The judges said they enjoyed my food".
For his starter Anish conjured up pea and pesto soup with homemade bread. That was follwed by spinach and ricotta ravioli with sage butter for his main course and strawberry and cream souffle for his dessert.
Anish thinks more young people shoudl get involved in cooking "It helps so many skills, such as management and presentation" His natural cooking ability may well stem from the fact that some of his relatives are professional chefs.
Mrs Jalabhay says "He loves cooking. He always says when he goes to university I don't have to worry about him eating properly!"
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