Top Cornish Chefs & Students Gather at The St Ives Harbour Hotel for the ‘Cornish Summer Cheftival’

St Ives Harbour Hotel hosted a Cornish Summer Cheftival that saw over 40 top chefs from across the county gather to celebrate the finest Cornish produce and culinary flair.  Catering and hospitality students from Cornwall College and Truro & Penwith College joined Head Chef Anthony Hinds and his team to create a selection of delicious canapes and serve them to the industry experts who attended.

Mark Devonshire, chef lecturer at Cornwall College spoke of his overwhelming pride in his students, he said:

“It is amazing to watch the development of our students throughout the course of their studies. We do our best to nurture them and help them grow their confidence, and be the best they can possibly be. I am very impressed with their performance today – A proud moment for me as their mentor”.

Head Chef Anthony was very pleased with the way students from both colleges pitched in and helped from the moment they arrived. He said:

“The students coped very well with all the tasks set and produced some excellent food as a result. In this industry if you get your head down and work hard you will do very well, and I’m sure these students have a bright future ahead of them”.

General Manager, Peter Holgate welcomed the chefs to the hotel, and as an ex-student of Cornwall College himself felt the day was a great success, binding together the Cornish hospitality sector.

Highlights of the day included a cookery demo by Anthony and his Chef de Partie Rosie Stone, also an ex-student of Cornwall College. They joined forces to showcase their deconstructed fish and chip dish: scallop, pea purée and game chips.

Darren Whelan of Kingfisher Brixham then gave a masterclass on filleting various round and flat fish including gurnard, plaice and sea bass. The chefs and students learnt some excellent filleting tips to minimise wastage and maximise profitability.

VRQ student, Kelynen Hedges (17), of Cornwall College impressed judges Darren Whelan and Anton Buttery of Langmans Restaurant with her mackerel filleting skills.  She won herself a fantastic prize of a Flint & Flame Santkou knife, kindly donated by Adande Refrigeration.

The first thing Kelynen said on entering the competiton was:

“I’ll enter the competition, but I’ll never win it”.

She ended up beating three of her peers and bagging herself a wonderful prize.  This just exemplifies the fantastic confidence-building opportunities afforded to students by The Chefs’ Forum at its quarterly events.

Kelynen greatly impressed Chef de Partie Rosie Stone and Head Chef Anthony who would like to explore the possibility of her joining their team on a more permanent basis.

Brindisa Spanish fine food and Sharp’s beer proved perfect bedfellows in a beer and food pairing session, a real treat for the chefs on their day off. If that wasn’t enough, expert butcher Gavin Roberts of Two Brothers Foods joined forces with BBQ aficionado Phil Oakes of The Griffin Inn (Newquay) to lay-on a fabulous ‘surf and turf’ BBQ, showcasing the finest cuts of Cornish beef, Kernow sausages and Kingfisher Brixham monkfish and prawns. Total Produce supplied delicious sweetcorn and Tregassow asparagus as the perfect accompaniment.

The chefs gave nothing but positive feedback on the day, and said that they greatly enjoyed the skilful demos, whilst supporting the next generation of chefs.

Many of the students who attended received fantastic job opportunities and an abundance of work experience opportunities – An inspiring and successful day was had by all.

Photography by www.fayditphotography.com