Bocuse d'Or, Europe 2008, Selection Estonia

Last Sunday we spent an enjoyable afternoon watching the Bocuse d'Or, Europe 2008 Selection Estonia. The event took place in recently opened Swissôtel Tallinn. It was the first time Estonia is competing for a place at this prestigeous culinary contest, and there were four chefs competing: my favourite candidate Tõnis Siigur (Restaurant Stenhus, Tallinn), Peter Pihel (most recently at Restaurant Bloom, Stockholm), Vladislav Djatshuk (Restaurant Egoist, Tallinn) and Dmitri Rooz (Restaurant BeerHouse, Tallinn).

The contestants had 5,5 hours to prepare two dishes - one using salmon, and the other using lamb (incl. rack of lamb, lamb kidneys and lamb sweetbreads). Sadly, our camera battery failed us in the middle of the event, so we haven't got photos of all the finished dishes. However, here are some snapshots of the hard-working judges:



And here's one of Tõnis Siigur's salmon creation, Norwegian Salmon and Potato 'Ravioli', consisting of potato 'ravioli' with slow-cooked salmon belly, lemon and egg cream, salmon tartar, fresh horseradish, parmesan espuma and herbs.



The technical/kitchen judges were Michael Bhoola (a local Brit, Restaurant Pegasus, Tallinn), Roman Zaštšerinski (Restaurant Ö, Tallinn), Andrus Laaniste (Tallinn), Siiri Kirikal (Oma Maitse food magazine) and the taste judges Angelica Udeküll (Restaurant Aed, Tallinn), Christer Lingström (Restaurant Edsbacka Krog, Stockholm), Rasmus Kofoed (Restaurant Geranium, Copenhagen, Bocuse d'Or Silver Medal 2007), Sven-Erik Renaa (Norwegian Gastronomy Institute), Jarmo Vähä-Savo (Restaurant GW Sundmans, Helsinki). A very respectable and honorable bunch of judges :)

After lots of excitement and entertainment, the jury announced the winner - Estonia will be represented by Vladislav Djatshuk (Egoist, Tallinn). There are 20 countries competing for the first ever Bocuse d'Or Europe, which will take place in Stavanger, Norway on July 1st and 2nd, 2008.