Superyacht Chefs to go Head-to-Head at Yacht Club de Monaco

Under the aegis of its La Belle Classe Academy training centre for luxury yachting professionals, for the third year running Yacht Club de Monaco has partnered with Bluewater for a one-of-its-kind culinary competition on 7th April 2022.

“We want to position Monaco as a centre of excellence in the luxury yachting sector, and that includes for training,” says Yacht Club de Monaco General Secretary Bernard d’Alessandri. “A competition like this one is a great opportunity for professional superyacht chefs to showcase their skills.”

Chaired by Chef Guillaume Gomez, French gastronomy ambassador and member of Disciples d'Auguste Escoffier, who ran the kitchens at the Elysée, and supervised by Joël Garault, President of Goûts et Saveurs, this year’s jury comprises talented chefs. They include Nicolas Benoit, voted ‘Meilleur Ouvrier de France’ 2015 in the gastronomic cuisine category and a professor at the Ecole de Gastronomie Ferrandi, Paris; and Nicolas Sale who heads up two Michelin star restaurants and is international president of the Disciples d’Auguste Escoffier. Michelin starred Chef Didier Anies, voted ‘Meilleur Ouvrier de France’ 2000 and who is now the executive chef at Château de la Tour in Cannes, completes the line-up.

For the first time since the competition launched there is an anti-waste criterium overseen by Chef Gilles Brunner, professor of cuisine at the Lycée Technique et Hôtelier de Monaco (vocational and catering school). The concept is simple: if one of the mystery ingredients in the basket is not used, the chef is given a penalty based on an external scoring grid.

For the 2022 edition, nine chefs of different nationalities are set to compete. All are working on superyachts over 40m in length, such as the MY Black Pearl and MY Hampshire II. Each chef is required to create a dish from a basket of mystery ingredients, mainly seafood produce, put together by Chef Joël Garault with support from Maison del Gusto. 

The basket will be unveiled before each of the three rounds of 40 minutes, from which three finalists will emerge. For the grand finale, these three will prepare a main dish and a dessert in a bid to win the contest. 

It is the perfect opportunity for owners and anyone interested in haute cuisine to come and see the chefs in action at workstations, which mimic the restricted galley area found on some yachts, and marvel at what they can produce. 

The Zepter Group is providing cookery elements and professional knife sets to help the nine chefs to meet the tight deadlines and produce creative tasty dishes that will get the jury’s vote. 

For Yacht Club de Monaco, the competition is a way to pay tribute to trades in the luxury yachting sector, which numbers 252 companies in the Principality, and position Monaco as capital of yachting.