On September 4 and 5, 12 of Dubai’s top bakers, and 12 pastry professionals came together at the Richemont Masterbaker training institute in Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai to compete in the first-ever Richemont Masterbaker Pastry & Baking Championship 2018.
In order to qualify for the live heats, the 24 chefs had to first complete an online knowledge and skills test, which involved a timed assessment to demonstrate technical knowledge within their chosen field. During the live heats, each chef was judged by a panel of industry experts on several criteria including the recipe, preparation, process and the final presentation.
Eight finalists returned four bakers, four pastry chefs to Richemont Masterbaker in JLT in early October, to go head-to-head in the final rounds, before the champion in each category was revealed at The Pro Chef Middle East Awards on October 29th.
The four pastry finalists were:
- Keegan Perreira, Grosvenor House, Dubai
- Raghava Poojari, Maison de Juliette
- Syarif Purawinata, DUKES Dubai
- Vimal Nair, Anantara The Palm Dubai Resort
The four baking finalists were:
- Augustine James, Jumeirah at Etihad Towers
- Habibullah Khan, Anantara The Palm Dubai Resort
- Ibrahim Alzaabi, Fairmont Bab Al Bahr
- Jacob Ebba, DUKES Dubai
Richemont Masterbaker Centre revealed the winners on stage at the prestigious awards ceremony, crowning Chef Vimal Nair from Anantara The Palm Dubai as the Pastry Champion, and Chef Jacob Ebba from DUKES Dubai as the Baking Champion.
Chef Vimal will receive an all-expenses-paid course at Felchlin’s Condirama in Schwyz, Switzerland, in addition to an Advanced Pastry Course at Richemont Masterbaker in Dubai and a custom-made and personalised Bragard Grand Chef’s Jacket.
Chef Jacob will receive an all-expenses-paid course at Richemont Centre of Excellence School in Lucerne, Switzerland, and his own custom-made Bragard Grand Chef’s Jacket.
To see what happened behind the scenes at the finals, watch the video below:
To learn more about the competition, please click here.