Nine contestants competed in the seventh edition of the Superyacht Chef Competition, organized by Yacht Club de Monaco’s La Belle Classe Academy training center in partnership with Bluewater. Chef Aaron Thomas of 33-meter Canvas earned the coveted prize with a lobster dish in two parts — a plate accompanied by asparagus and a morel fricassee followed by a bisque.
After several timed and qualifying rounds, nine chefs battled it out in a format mirroring the galley environment on board. With a basket of mystery ingredients to work with, contestants had five minutes to plan and then 40 minutes to prepare and plate their dish. Finalists had 80 minutes to prepare a main course and a dessert under the watchful eyes of the jury.
“The most difficult aspect was the pace: producing several dishes in a very short time while adapting to the basket of mystery ingredients,” Thomas says.
Participating chefs included Beatrice Cordy of 65-meter M/Y Nectar, Gaia Botturi of 60-meter M/Y Madame Kate, Tony Triest of 88.5-meter M/Y Barbara, David Kempsey of 46-meter S/Y Sagitta, Baptiste Liquito of 35-meter M/Y Infinity Nine, Milan Popovic of 35-meter M/Y Smiley, Alex Saimbene of 50-meter M/Y Moka and Ilija Gojkovic of 38-meter M/Y Emocean.