Sean-Paul Phippard of Restaurant Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles has been crowned winner of the first-ever Plated competition – taking home the title and a huge prize pot worth £10K.
In a confident display of culinary artistry and technical precision, chef de partie Sean Paul battled it out in a fierce live final held at TRUEfoods Development Kitchen, in Ripon, North Yorkshire, on April 28th. “It’s amazing, I never thought when I entered that I would win. For me, it was my last chance to enter a competition for my age. I look back now on my career and think I should have entered more. I’m absolutely over the moon. I honestly never thought I would win. I just wanted to prove to myself that I had the confidence and just do a competition in general. I didn’t think about the winning or the prize,” said Sean-Paul.
Mitch Mitchell, Managing Director of TRUEfoods, Mairead Wilmot, Editor of Tableware International, Spencer Metzger, Executive Chef at Row on 5, Restaurateur Jason Atherton, winner Sean-Paul Phippard, Northcote’s Lisa Goodwin-Allen, founders of Goodfellow and Goodfellow, Valda and Paul Goodfellow. Pic:Will Stanley Creative 
Sean-Paul Phippard of Restaurant Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles has been crowned winner of the first-ever Plated competition – taking home the title and a huge prize pot worth £10K
Speaking about his winning dish – judged by renowned restaurateur Jason Atherton, Spencer Metzger, executive chef of Row on 5, and Lisa Goodwin-Allen of Northcote, as well a number of other esteemed judges – the 29-year-old said he chose dressed lobster and chicory salad with lobster claw because lobster was one of the first dishes he ever cooked when starting out his career at the age of 15.
He added: “I wanted to use that as my inspiration to show how far I’ve come in my own journey as a chef. The day itself was amazing and I am grateful to all the support I have had, including from my executive chef, Stevie [McLaughlin].
“When I was younger, I always thought ‘I’m not good enough for these competitions’. I was too nervous. If you don’t win, that’s fine. I’d encourage all young chefs to enter, whatever the outcome, it’s a great experience.”
Created by hospitality experts Goodfellow & Goodfellow and TRUEfoods, Plated was born from a shared passion to spotlight the next generation of chefs and give young talent a national platform to showcase their skills, creativity, and plating skills.
Executive Chef Stephen McLaughlin of Restaurant Andrew Fairlie at The Gleneagles Hotel said: “I was over the moon for Sean-Paul, I know how much he put into this, and it was definitely out of his comfort zone. He’s part of a great team here at the restaurant and he looks after Andrew’s signature dish of home smoked Scottish lobster, but this allowed him to showcase himself as an individual and work with lobster in his own way. “I never tell my team to do competitions but if they come to us and they want to do one, we ask them why and what they want to get out of it, and then we will match them in terms of commitment. We want to support them to have a good chance of winning but also to give a good account of themselves as chefs. Winning is fantastic, but we want them to take something positive away from an experience like Plated, win or lose.
“I’ve no doubt the competition will continue to grow with the people it has behind it and the level of judges in its first year. We’re not as good as we should be about shouting about what we do here, but Andrew always wanted to promote people, and this competition is a great example of something he would have encouraged. I know he would have liked Sean-Paul very much and he’d have wanted him to do well.”
With a prize fund worth £10,000, which included £7.5K cash, a trip to tableware manufacturer and sponsors of the competition, Costa Nova in Portugal, plus a Michelin-starred dining experience and photoshoot in Goodfellow & Goodfellow’s industry brochure, Portfolio 7 – the competition captured the attention of young chefs from across the UK.
Alongside Sean-Paul, the finalists included: ● Monica Elena Duscu – Cord, Le Cordon Bleu ● Brayden Davies – The Box Tree, Ilkley ● Hannah Sloane – The Black Swan, Oldstead ● Ajit Yadav – Corinthia, London ● Reece Brady-Temple – The Grand, York.
It was Sean-Paul’s lobster showstopper that wowed the judges, which also included founders of Goodfellow and Goodfellow, Valda and Paul Goodfellow, Mitch Mitchell, Managing Director of TRUEfoods and Mairead Wilmot, Editor of Tableware International.
Lisa Goodwin-Allen said about the dish: “It’s beautiful and the detail of using the whole of the lobster in each of the elements; making a mayonnaise, the claw on the side, the little tart, using the tail, finishing with the sauce – was all clean, and well thought out with the ingredients and presentation.”
Valda and Paul Goodfellow said: “We were blown away by the standard of the contestants, and Sean-Paul delivered everything we were looking for in a winning dish. His composition and cooking skills were excellent, and his imaginative use of tableware meant he excelled at every aspect of the brief. He is real talent.”
