7 July 2022

Competition heats up in Chef of the Year final

Sam Mellish from Moore Place care home in Esher was crowned our 2022 Chef of the Year. Sam went up against chefs from all 114 of our cares homes and won in a hard-fought final that took place on the 5 July.

The competition had several rounds. To enter, chefs proposed a menu consisting of a main, dessert and snack. These were voted for my colleagues across the country in terms of inventiveness of the cooking, resident involvement in the crafting of the menus and how appetising it sounded.

At Anchor, we love seeing our residents enjoy mealtimes, so having dishes they look forward to eating is important to us and our chefs.

Four chefs made it through several rounds of colleague votes to reach tense final

The four finalists then went head-to-head at Leeds Community College, where they had to prepare their menus in a race against the clock. Each dish was then sampled by judges including Managing Director of Care Services Rob Martin, Catering Manager Noel Finnegan, and last year’s Chef of the Year winner Verity Sims.

Serving the perfect balance of comfort and culinary excellence

In the end, Sam Mellish emerged as the winner. The judges agreed that his menu of chicken wrapped in bacon and stuffed with cheese and sausages, summer pudding with clotted cream and a chocolate and red wine cake served with mascarpone ice cream combined the perfect balance of traditional comfort and culinary excellence. Sam was crowned at the official winner’s ceremony later that day.

Managing Director of Care Services Rob Martin, who presented Sam with his award, said:

A huge well done to Sam. This year’s competition was fierce, especially with our first in person final for a while. So, it says a lot about Sam’s menu and his skills that he was able to deliver such an excellent set of dishes against the clock and against so many other great chefs. I can say from experience his summer pudding was especially delicious!

At Anchor, we pride ourselves on colleagues’ dedication. Excellent quality home cooked food is central to ensuring residents have a positive experience in all Anchor care homes – and I’m sure residents at Moore Place will be celebrating along with Sam.

Sam was delighted to win, saying:

I still can’t quite believe it! To make the final four was incredible but I never thought I’d win! I wanted to make a menu that was healthy but also tasty. So, when I entered the Chef of the Year competition, I had a good chat with our residents about what they really enjoyed and here we are!

I really wanted to create a menu that our residents would love. They were so helpful and told me some wonderful stories about their favourite dishes, so maybe they’re the ones who should be getting the credit!