Historic chef competition International Salon Culinaire has opened for entries for 2023.  

Taking place alongside Hotel, Restaurant & Catering (HRC) on 20-22 March at ExCeL London, Salon Culinaire offers chefs of all ages and skillsets the opportunity to compete in over 80 live and static competitions, from meat, cheese and plant-based challenges to desserts and sugarcraft.  

Next year’s edition of the competition will see the return of popular categories including the NHS 4 Nations Chef Challenge, the Alaska Seafood Masters, Stadium Experience Chef Team of the Year and Country Range Student Chef Team Challenge, along with popular 2022 additions such as the Apprentice Challenge and Pub Chef of the Year.  

Craft Guild of Chef’s National Chef Team of the Year competition, in association with Waitrose & Partners, will also have a new format at the competing chefs are challenged to construct delicious bowl food dishes.  

New for 2023 is the prestigious Lumina Lamb Challenge from Official Meat Partner Alliance NZ and a new online training competition for chef lecturers in partnership with The Grande Cuisine Academy. 

Steve Munkley, Salon Chef Director, comments: “Next year’s event is set to be another fantastic edition of HRC and International Salon Culinaire, attracting everyone from the UK’s leading chefs to the next generation of culinary superstars. Live competition is a great way for chefs to challenge themselves, meet industry peers and stand out from the crowd and I can’t wait to see what this year’s competitors produce.” 

Among the over 70 esteemed chef judges returning for 2023 are Cyrus Todiwala OBE of Café Spice, Gary Devereaux of the House of Lords, Dennis Mwakulua of the Lexington, Nick Vadis of Compass Group UK & Ireland, Matt Owens of the Craft Guild of Chefs, Martyn Nail of the Dorchester Hotel, Yolande Stanley MBE of The Pastry Training Company and Candice Webber of Thomas Franks of London.  

“We have seen our students flourish and gain massive confidence to face the world,” says Todiwala “To all chefs: be bold, be brave, face challenges and be competitive, as it is facing an audience and creating the magic that is within you that what will make the difference for your rise and future achievements, and will give you the confidence to succeed.” 

New additions to the judging panel include Terry O’Riordan of Ketochefs, Shona Sutherland of the Tastyful and Scottish Culinary team and Wayne Roberts of the Royal Lancaster London.  

International Salon Culinaire is working with a number of Official Equipment Partners, including combi ovens from Unox, refrigeration from Liebherr, and induction from Induced Energy. Compass Group UK & Ireland is returning as Headline Partner for 2023, continuing a long-standing partnership with the competition. 

Unox will once again be taking all the Live Theatre Best-in-Class winners for on an all-expenses-paid trip to Italy to explore Venice and Padova and enjoy a guided tour around the Unox global headquarters. Read about the 2022 trip here.  

International Salon Culinaire will take place on 20-22 March 2023 at ExCeL London. To find out more about all the competitions and challenges at next year’s event, and for information on how to enter, head to internationalsalonculinaire.co.uk.