News

Chartwells’ School catering manager, Dalila Christopher, has become the first chef to book a place in the national final of LACA’s School Chef of the Year by winning the competitions London regional final.

Christopher, who works at St Stephen’s Church of England Primary School in the London Borough of Lewisham, said: “I’m so excited and overwhelmed to have won. This is one of the highlights of my career and I can’t wait to represent Chartwells, my school and London in the national final later in the year.” 

The London regional final saw four highly skilled school chefs showcase their skills as they competed to produce a two-course meal that would appeal to an 11-year-old school pupil. They were given just 90 minutes to prepare everything from scratch. 

Christopher impressed the judges with a Caribbean inspired menu consisting of a healthy and main course of island salmon served with tomato and mango chutney. This was followed by an orange and ginger cheesecake for dessert. 

Caroline Jenkins, Chartwells’ regional manager for London said:  “I am really proud of Dalila, her entry demonstrated her talent and innovation. Chefs like Dalila are at the heart of our business and we are incredibly excited that she will be representing Chartwells at the LACA final in May. The standard of the competition was very high and demonstrates the quality of people in our business.”

Miss Frances Holland, head teacher at St Stephen’s Primary School added: “When the pupils and staff sampled the dishes the taste was fantastic. We are absolutely delighted Dalila has made it through to the national final of the School Chef of the Year competition.”