Rui Silva, from Euskalduna Studio*, will represent Portugal in Chef Balfegó 2024

• The 26-year-old Portuguese chef won the first prize at Chef Balfegó Portugal, which will allow him to compete in the grand international final of the competition, next October 28 in Madrid.

• The chefs Dieter Koschina – Vila Joya**, Arnaldo Azevedo – Vila Foz* and Luís Gaspar – Brilhante, formed the jury table that evaluated and scored the chefs’ preparations according to their flavor, aroma, presentation or treatment of the product, among others. .

Rui Silva, from the Euskalduna Studio* restaurant in Porto, is the winner of the second edition of Chef Balfegó Portugal and becomes the country’s representative in the grand international final of the competition. The Portuguese semi-final was held this Monday, June 3, at the Escola de Hotelaria e Turismo de Oporto, where 6 chefs competed at a very high level to win the prize. The jury, made up of Dieter Koschina (Vila Joya**), Arnaldo Azevedo (Vila Foz*) and Luís Gaspar (Brilhante), evaluated the two dishes presented by each candidate – one necessarily made with loin and the second with another part of the tuna. Balfegó red to choose from -, scoring them by categories with a total of up to 100 points.

Diogo Ribeiro (Vila Vita Parc Resport & Spa), João Nunes (The Yeatman**), João Santana (Brava), Oleg Zhyrun (Kabuki*), Rui Silva (Euskalduna Studio*) and Vitor Gomes (Torel Boutiques) were the semi-finalists who, during the morning, cooked simultaneously to present their creations in front of the jury, who wanted to highlight at all times the high level of the participants’ recipes. This certifies the consolidation of Chef Balfegó in the Portuguese country, which in its second edition has highlighted and valued the rise of Portuguese gastronomy, which at Balfegó we accompany and support by giving visibility and opportunities to the country’s young talents.

The same Escola de Hotelaria e Turismo de Oporto hosted the awards ceremony in the afternoon. The celebration of a kaitai – the cutting of a bluefin tuna weighing more than 100 kg – was the opening of the event, where the name of the winner was also announced and a commemorative plaque was given to all participants. After the big announcement, the cocktail dinner began, where the nearly 200 attendees were able to enjoy more than 10 dishes made with the best bluefin tuna in the world. The night was livened up with a DJ and we were able to count on the presence of all our sponsors in corners enabled to show their products: Aqua Panna – San Pellegrino, Estrella Galicia, TheFork, Fagor Professional, Le Nouveau Chef, Gin Raw, Caviaroli, Porto Muiños , Minami and Quinta dos Carvalhais. Here you can see a video summary of the day.

Rui Silva takes the baton from chef Rafael Gomes (Escama restaurant, Porto), the first winner of Chef Balfegó Portugal and participant in the grand final. Despite obtaining a very close score among all the participants, the chef from Euskalduna Studio* continued to captivate the jury with his two recipes, which gave him a direct pass to the grand international final of the contest, which will be held on the 28th of October in Madrid and will feature 4 Spanish chefs and 1 from each guest country: Italy, Germany, Benelux and, naturally, Portugal.

The winners of each international semi-final receive a cash prize of €1,000, in addition to a direct ticket to the grand final of the competition and a complete audiovisual report. Rui Silva is the first confirmed of the 4 international chefs, who we will meet in the coming months and will join the already selected Spanish ones (who you can meet here) to configure the complete list of the 8 participants of the VII edition of Chef Balfegó.