THE finalists of this year's I Love Manx Chef competition have been announced following a cook off at the Royal Manx Agricultural Show.
Family and professional chefs cooked in front of large audiences at the show, which was held on Friday and Saturday, to create dishes made with local Manx produce.
The winners of the Family Chef competition were Sheila and Stuart Gawne, who cooked a spicy Manx lamb and vegetable crumble, and Lucy Kinrade who produced a Manx beef and squid dish.
They will now compete at the Isle of Man Food and Drink Festival on on Saturday, September 24, where Stacie Stewart, a MasterChef semi-finalist will join the judging panel.
In the Professional Chef category Yohann Bonjus from the International Business School and Mohammed Hoque from Spice of India were selected as finalists.
Yohann, who produced a trio of Manx starters including open beef wellingtons, mini scotch eggs and lobster pithivier, and Mohammed, who cooked a Manx lamb korai, will compete at the festival on Sunday, September 25, where they will be judged by celebrity chef James Martin.
The rest of the judging panel will be made up of Gary Cregeen, the sales and marketing manager at Manx Gas who sponsor the competition, Tony Quirk, a chef and cookery lecturer, Juan Turner MLC and representatives of the Manx National Farmer's Union.
A spokesperson for the judges said: "It was a real pleasure to judge the I Love Manx Chef competitions this year. We sampled a wide range of great tasting dishes which made excellent use of quality Manx produce.
"The finals at the Isle of Man Food and Drink Festival should be amazing and we're looking forward to them. Do come along and get some great ideas to use at home – and to cheer on our brave cooks."
Picture caption: L to R - Tony Quirk, Gary Cregeen, Juan Turner, Yohann Bonjus, Mohammed Hoque, Kim Etherton from the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture and Howard Quayle from the Manx National Farmer's Union.
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