Elite Champagne house Taittinger knows more than a little about the art of fine dining. Their superb wines have graced the tables of some of the top restaurants in the world for decades, and their connection to haute cuisine goes right back to its founder, Pierre Taittinger, in the 1930s. Their international culinary competition has been running for over half a century with the explicit aim of recognizing talented young chefs, and today, “Le Taittinger” is regarded as one of the top awards in the profession. Past winners read like a who's who of the great and the good of modern gastronomy, including luminaries like Joël Robuchon, Régis Marcon and Michel Roth.

Joining their illustrious ranks this year is Jan Smink, head chef of Restaurant Smink in the small town of Wolvega in the Netherlands. Third time was the charm for Smink winning stages throughout this year to secure first prize at the grand final on January 31. He proudly joins fellow Dutchmen Lars Van Galen and Jonathan Zandbergen, who won in 2011 and 2014 respectively.

Held for the first time in London at Le Cordon Bleu’s Bloomsbury headquarters, the 2023 final saw Smink face a Grand Jury led by honorary president Michel Roux and including other culinary fixtures like Claude Bosi and last year’s winner, Ryo Horiuchi. Along with seven other top chefs from the USA, Belgium, Japan, Sweden, the UK, Switzerland, and France he was challenged to tailor a recipe around a single ingredient. This year’s theme was pork: as the most widespread meat in the world, it gave the chefs an opportunity to showcase their culinary identities as well as explore the art of nose to tail eating.

Second place in the competition went to Japan’s Hirofumi Kanbe of Restaurant Prunier, an establishment still basking in the glory of its recently awarded Michelin star. Alexandre Vuillin of France took third place. He is currently at La Pyramide, the very first restaurant to obtain three Michelin stars way back in 1933.

Other finalists included Paul Burgalières, Head Chef at L’Enclume, Simon Rogan’s three-Michelin-starred restaurant in the UK; San Diego-based champion of Mexican cuisine Claudette Zepeda, and Miguel Valerio, born in the Dominican Republic but Swiss-trained and currently at the much-lauded  Maison Wenger. For more on the competition, check Taittinger’s website.