Rising culinary star: Professional Cookery student Dominic Grundy wins silver in Young Chef Olympiad

Capital City College student Dominic ‘Dom’ Grundy faced some of the world’s most talented culinary students in a global competition and brought home the silver trophy.

Dom Grundy, a Professional Cookery student from Capital City College (CCC), has won the silver trophy at this year’s Young Chef Olympiad. 

The prestigious international competition took place in India and involved young chefs from 44 countries. After a Grand Opening ceremony in Bangalore, Dom, who is a student on the Advanced Professional Cookery (Kitchen and Larder) – Level 3 Diploma course, remained in Bangalore to compete against chefs from Mauritius, Timor-Leste, Saudi Arabia, Colombia, Equatorial Guinea and Kenya in the first round of the competition. Other first round competitions featuring young chefs from other countries took place in Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad and Goa.

Dom progressed to the Grand Final in Kolkata, where he performed excellently and claimed the place of first runner up. Enri Cuedari from Albania was the overall winner and was presented with the gold trophy. Dom follows in the footsteps of former CCC student Kamran Taylor, who won the competition in 2025.

We spoke to Dom to learn more about his competition experience and find out what inspired him to pursue a culinary career.

What does your course entail?

I’m doing the Advanced Professional Cookery Level 3 Diploma. It’s made up of different rotations where you go through different parts of the restaurants and kitchens in the college, and you also do five weeks externally for work experience. At the moment, I’m at a restaurant called 74 Charlotte Street.

How did you get involved in the Young Chef Olympiad?

We had a talk about the competition back in October and I thought, “why not?” as I thought it would be fun. About 20 of us took part in the first cook off, where we had to explore a few different types of vegetable cuts. After that, I got an email that I’d made it to the last five.

In the next round, we were given a sea bass, a lemon, some butter, a shallot and a tomato. We had to fillet the sea bass and make two different dishes with it, one with a butter sauce and the other with a tomato sauce. 

About two weeks later, I got a message saying that I had been chosen to represent England in the Olympiad and would be going to India for the competition. It was a really fun process and it felt great to be chosen.

How did you prepare for the competition?

My mentor was chef Chris Basten. I had him as my teacher as well and he’s really great. We were sent the brief for the rounds in India and so after class, we would stop and look over the ingredients that we had. Once we had a rough idea of what to make, we practiced our dishes. I practiced the dishes at least three times a week for about four months, so in the end it became muscle memory.

What dishes did you make for the competition?

For round one, we did a modern take on kedgeree, which is a dish with rice, egg and fish. Our version involved curried rice with spinach and coriander going through it. And on top of that was a salted piece of barramundi, sea bass filet. We served that with a fish mousse sausage, an onion bhaji and some crispy fish skin, and there was a fish cream sauce around the outside.

I had to make a vegan dessert for the first round, so it was a coconut pannacotta topped with an orange gel filled with a mango compote. We served it with more of the mango compote around the outside and an almond crumb.

In round two, for the main we had debone a whole chicken. I filled the legs with parsley and rolled them, and I filled the breasts with a nice duxelle of mushroom and aubergine. It was served with a rosemary and garlic piece of polenta, an artichoke puree, creamed leeks and some courgette and carrot.

For dessert, we had to make a strudel so we made a strudel cannoli filled with a lemon and lime mascarpone. There was a citrus treacle sauce around it as well as butterscotch.

How long did it take you to make these dishes?

The first few times, it took me almost three hours. For both rounds of the competition we only had two and a half hours to do the main and the dessert, so we had to cut our time down. In practice, we were trying to get it to closer to two hours, which was challenging. We got there in the end, just a few days before the competition.

How did it feel to get the silver trophy?

It feels really great because I never thought I’d be able to do something like this.

What were the highlights of the competition for you?

The best parts were meeting all these different people from around the globe. It was crazy, and everyone’s got their own stories to tell. I got to try some brilliant food. The food you get in India, it’s nothing like the Indian food you get here. It was really fun to experience it.

Do you have a new favourite Indian dish?

I tried a few chicken biryanis while I was out there, and there was a rice pancake [Masala Dosa] in Bangalore that was really good, filled with masala potatoes and spices.

How did the college support you?

The support from the college was good. We got funding for the flight and the practice ingredients, and we were able to use the kitchens – I’m really grateful for that. We couldn’t have done the competition without the generosity of the college.
My tutor and mentor, Chef Chris Basten, really helped me. He was working equally as hard as me and when I was practicing, he was there, guiding me through it, critiquing me, making sure I was on time. He was there any time I had a question and was always supportive.

What inspired you to pursue a culinary career?

I discovered that I liked cooking while I was doing my A levels, but I didn’t always think I’d be a chef. I thought it’d be an accountant or something similar. My friend was working at a pub and they needed someone else in the kitchen. I gave it a go and realised that I really liked it and was pretty good at it, so I came to CCC’s School of Hospitality and Culinary Arts to study cookery.

What’s next for you?

I want to work in restaurants in London, and do some more competitions.

What tips or advice would give to someone who wants to follow in your footsteps?

I think you’ve got to try a bunch of different things. Out of them, you’ll find one that you really enjoy. If you enjoy it, why not go into it further and make a career out of it? When you find what you want to do, don’t let anything discourage you from your dreams. When I discovered cooking, it was the best thing I’d ever found. I think it continues to just get better and better.

Commenting on Dom’s win, Paul Jervis, Head of Hospitality and Culinary Arts at CCC, said: “The School of Hospitality and Culinary Arts is immensely proud of Dom for winning the Silver Medal at the Young Chef Olympiad 2026. His dedication, creativity, and professionalism shone through in every round as well as in the Grand Final. We also extend our heartfelt thanks to his mentor, Chris Basten, whose time, experience, and unwavering support have been instrumental in Dom’s success.”

If you enjoy cooking and are interested in a course that lets you explore your passion with creativity and skill, take a look at our Hospitality and Culinary Arts Courses.

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