Sheffield-born chef at The Ritz in London reaches grand final of world contest

Ian Musgrave, who secured NVQ level 3 Professional Chefs Diploma whilst at Sheffield College and worked at The Blue Room Brasserie in Sheffield during his early years as a chef, secured a place in the Bocuse d’Or World Final after winning the special prize for theme on the plate and securing eighth place in the competition.

Mr Musgrave and his commis chef, Adam Beaumont, were supported by coach Tom Phillips, head chef at Restaurant Story, and President Simon Rogan, of L’Enclume. Between them the chefs held six Michelin stars.

Team Denmark took the first place on the podium, followed by Team Hungary in second place and Team Norway in third.

Mr Musgrave and Mr Beaumont cooked against 16 teams for just 10 places at the grand finale in Lyon in January 2023. Both chefs had secured the opportunity to represent the UK in 2019 but were unable to compete in 2020 due to the pandemic.

On securing the theme on the plate prize and a place in the final, Mr Musgrave said: “We’ve had to wait three years for this, so to win the prize and have a place in the world final is amazing. I’m just so happy and can’t wait to do it all again in Lyon next year.”

This year the competing countries included Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, France, Finland, Iceland, Hungary, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Turkey and United Kingdom.

The chefs had five-and-a-half hours to prepare and present both the theme on the plate and the platter which were based on two specific briefs using Hungarian produce.