Held at the University of West London’s Ealing site on 20 March, four teams of two culinary arts students (each representing a British and a French school) were required to demonstrate a modern interpretation of one of Auguste Escoffier’s classics. His great grandson Michel Escoffier acted as head of the 2024 jury, which was made up of British and French chefs Steve Munkley, Franciane Tartari, Gilles Quillot, Mark Flanagan, Daniel Ayton and James Golding.

The teams were tasked with making paupiette of lemon sole, sauce marinière, with fond d’artichaut, pommes de terre à l’anglaise and glazed carrots. For dessert, the teams had the brief of creating a dessert including a fermented dough element.  

This year’s Entente Cordiale culinary competition Laureates are both women – with Sude Hancher from Westminster Kingsway College and her teammate Alexia Provenza, from Lycée Jeanne et Paul Augier in Nice, taking the title.

It has been a pleasure to be here and have such an amazing experience. We kept to the classic Escoffier style for our lemon sole dish, and I really enjoyed producing it,”

said Sude. 

Meeting Sude and working with her in the kitchen has been a real pleasure for me,”

her teammate Alexia added.

Commenting on the event, UWL Senior Lecturer in Culinary Arts Michael Coaker said,

We are delighted to have hosted the competition here at UWL in London this year; as always, we have been impressed by the teamwork on display and it has been a great creative and cultural experience for all the students taking part.

Not only have they made new contacts and friendships, but they also had the honour of attending a special reception at the French Ambassador’s Residence to celebrate the close relationship between our countries, and where they met leading French chefs based in the UK.”

Competing for the title from the University of West London was Yun Ming Yee, with teammate Caroline Giannini from Lycée Jeanne et Paul Augier in Nice. Also competing were Elvis Farrah from Bournemouth and Poole College and Julien Blein from Lycée Francis de Croisset in Grasse, and Alby Pieper from Broadstairs College along with Lea Enargelico from Lycée Francis de Croisset.

The presentation ceremony took place in the award-winning Pillars Restaurant, at the University of West London.

The Entente Cordiale is such a special event for us. It is inspiring for all our culinary arts students to see this kind of high level, international competition taking place here in our kitchens,”

said UWL Senior Lecturer Nathan Vasanthan.

• Find out more about studying culinary arts management at UWL