The closing ceremony was held on Wednesday (17th April). The function room at PCEC was a sea of chef whites and tall chef hats. After a few speeches, the awards were underway. There were awards for the regional leg of the Global Chef Challenge. That was won by Shannon Kellam, who now will represent the Pacific Rim in the international event. Shannon is a very busy chef, who also is on the National Australian Team and was Australia’s representative at the Bocuse d’Or competition in France (earlier this year). And that’s not even mentioning his day job – Exec Chef at the Brisbane Club, QLD.
Another of the individual competitions has not yet been decided. Chefs from around the Pacific Rim took part in a regional leg of the “Hans Bueschkens Young Chefs Challenge”. They were competing to represent the Pacific Rim. The grand finale is being held in South Korea, in May. Unfortunately, the Australian representative was involved in a car accident just before the cook off, and he was unable to compete. But in incredibly good sportsmanship, the other competitors agreed that he should compete when well enough.
Then the team event medals were handed out. Locally, WA did very well, receiving a Silver medal. That was a very good result, for a team that was given only a few days’ notice, before competing. Overall the “University Club of WA” took out the local award. All the international teams did well. Hong Kong was the best of the visiting teams. Australia won gold, as well as the overall competition. It was the first time the Aussies had taken the overall winner title at Ocenanafest. That was a great result for them!
