Angelo Scirocco Representing SA in Milan

WORDS Malibongwe Tyilo

From 25 – 27 June at the Expo Milano 2015, this year’s San Pellegrino Young Chef award winner will be chosen. We’re rooting for Angelo Scirocco, the young South African chef who was announced earlier this year as the competition’s representative for Africa and the Middle East.

More that 3 000 young chefs from all over the globe entered the competition in the hopes that they would be one of the 20 finalists chosen to represent their regions in Milan.

Angelo won the honour at the regional challenge, which took place at the South African Chefs Academy in Cape Town on 23 February 2015. A jury of top chefs (including David Higgs, Joe Barza and Uwe Micheel) chose his “Milk Is Thicker Than Water” dish as the best, according to five golden rules: ingredients, skill, genius, beauty and message.

“It’s a dish consisting of milk as the main component,” says Angelo. “It is a combination of different ideas of courses that would include typical ingredients in each separate course. This dish has since progressed into a dessert.” Angelo was educated at the Institute of Culinary Arts and has worked in the kitchens of superstar chefs like Luke Dale Roberts and Liam Tomlin.

The next phase and final round of the competition will see sparkling water brand San Pellegrino partner with fashion magazine Vogue Italia. The 20 regional finalists will be partnered with 20 selected emerging designers to come up with a fashion creation inspired by the signature dishes. During this phase, the chefs will also each have a Mentor Chef guiding them towards the creation of their final dish. Angelo’s mentor is none other than award-winning David Higgs of Five Hundred at The Saxon Hotel in Joburg.

A jury of seven international chefs, namely Gastón Acurio, Yannick Alléno, Massimo Bottura, Margot Janse, Yoshihiro Narisawa, Éric Ripert and Joan Roca, will select the San Pellegrino Young Chef 2015, while the cuisine and fashion lovers attending the final event will vote to assign the Best Couple Chef-Designer for 2015.

To keep up with the San Pellegrino Young Chef Awards, visit finedininglovers.com and follow the hashtag #SPYoungChef on Twitter.