Victoria University culinary student Gabrielle Entwisle will head to Darwin next month to compete for Australian Apprentice Chef of the Year after winning a place on the Victorian team at the state finals held this week at VU.
Gabrielle, 25, from Richmond, competed against the top 100 up-and-coming first, second and third-year chefs from 30 TAFEs and registered training organisations to win one of the four spots on the state team. The student chefs were judged on practice, preparation, presentation and taste.
VU culinary teacher Jacqueline Bates, who was appointed the Victorian team manager, said Gabrielle's dedication and perseverance in mastering each component of her rack-of-lamb dish was rewarded by her win in the cook-off.
VU's ten-member team , which included students from the Academy Sofitel that VU runs in partnership with the Sofitel Melbourne Hotel, finished with one gold, four silver and four bronze medals.
The winning Victoria University students in the state finals are:
- Gabrielle Entwisle (VU) - Gold (Best Culinary Student)
- Joseph Pham (VU) - Silver
- Lachlan Gardner (Academy Sofitel) - Silver
- Mark Edmunds (Academy Sofitel) - Bronze
- Amelia Faciale (Academy Sofitel) - Bronze
- Emily Legge (Academy Sofitel) - Bronze
- Thomas Capell (VU) - Silver
- Jessica Corbett (Academy Sofitel) - Silver
- Brenton Banner (Academy Sofitel) - Bronze
