Candidate Tom Phillips and commis chef Harry van Lierop competed against 23 other national teams at the 20th anniversary of the high-profile global cooking competition.
Team France took gold with candidate Paul Marcon winning thirty years after his father Régis Marcon. France also won the best commis prize.
Team Denmark led by Sebastian Holbert Svendsgaard won silver with Sweden taking bronze.
Bocuse d’Or Team UK is made up of Phillips and van Lierop alongside president Clare Smyth and coach Ian Musgrave.
Last year Phillips, the head chef of Restaurant Story, and van Lierop, a sous chef at The Ledbury, achieved fourth place in the Bocuse d’Or Europe thereby qualifying for the world final.
To celebrate the 20th edition of the Bocuse d’Or world final, this year’s themes paid homage to the competition’s founder, the late chef Paul Bocuse whose cuisine ‘was heavily influenced by his love for local produce, game and creating refined dishes’.
The candidates were encouraged to celebrate authentic cuisine ‘where cooking and technique reign supreme, and where the whole product is an integral part of the recipe’.
In the 20th edition, the candidates and their commis chefs presented two platters. The first platter of stone bass, served with lobster and warm lobster sabayon and the celery root and stalk had to be portioned and presented on 16 plates within six minutes of the platter being returned to the kitchen.
The brief for the main was to showcase French venison which had to be served with foie gras and a tea-infused consommé.
Each team had 5 hours 30 minutes to prepare, present and serve both platters. Team UK were the first team to compete, and the Stone bass platter was served at 12.25pm on Sunday 26 January.
“I’m so proud of the team. They did the UK proud and we keep getting better all the time,” says Smyth.
“Fifth is something to be incredibly proud of. Harry has been absolutely phenomenal, it’s been a highlight of this competition to watch this young man grow.”
The Bocuse d’Or is the world’s largest cooking competition. More than 60 countries enter every other year to be shortlisted to just 24 candidates in the world final. The teams are competing for worldwide recognition, a gold trophy and prize of €20,000.
