Blanket Bay chefs win right to represent New Zealand

Two of Blanket Bay's chefs have again won the right to represent New Zealand at the next stage of a prestigious international chef competition.

Chef Mark Sycamore and junior chef Joseph Clark cooked up a storm in the World Association of Chefs Societies Challenge national final held in Auckland last week.

Having received a set list of ingredients, they created a four-course menu for eight people, scored the highest points and won the gold medal.

The next stage is the Pacific region final in Australia next year.

If successful, they will head to Chile in 2010 for the biennial final.

Head chef Jason Dell said it was an outstanding result for his team, particularly as it follows several other competition successes this year.

"The WACS competition is particularly tough, with several stages starting at the regional level," Mr Dell said.

"The Auckland cook-off was a proper, seven-hour cooking competition with serious time pressures."

Blanket Bay general manager Philip Jenkins said the kitchen staff's performance was "crucial" to the lodge's reputation for luxury.

"By encouraging our chefs to take part in competitions, we gain exceptional food quality and high guest satisfaction, while helping the chefs further their individual careers and develop reputations," Mr Jenkins said.

"The end result is that we have excellent staff retention, which is very important in the highly competitive area of cuisine personnel."