We now have the 8 finalists of Chef Balfegó 2024

• Rui Silva (Portugal), Brandon de Bruin (Benelux), Leonardo Viola (Italy), Julio Pizarro (Germany), Cristóbal Muñoz (Valladolid), Lander Cornago (San Sebastián), Pablo Zuazu (Barcelona) and Paula Gutiérrez (Salamanca) will square off in the final.
• The awards ceremony for the 7th edition of the international professional cooking contest will be held at the Gran Teatro CaixaBank Príncipe Pío.

The Chef Balfegó international professional cooking competition, which rewards and recognizes the chefs who best prepare bluefin tuna, has the eight finalists for its seventh edition. The international candidates competing for the award are Rui Silva, from Euskalduna Studio* (Porto, Portugal); the representative from Benelux, Brandon de Bruin, from De Kromme Dissel* (Heelsum, Netherlands); Leonardo Viola, from A-Spurcacciuna (Savona, Italy); and Julio Pizarro, from the Pizarro Fine Dining restaurant (Groß-Gerau), as the German candidate. Representing Spain in the final will be: Cristóbal Muñoz, from the Ambivium* restaurant (Peñafiel, Valladolid); Lander Cornago, from the Arzak*** restaurant (San Sebastián); Pablo Zuazu, from the Via Veneto* restaurant (Barcelona), and Paula Gutiérrez, from the Víctor Guitérrez* restaurant (Salamanca).

This new edition of Chef Balfegó continues to expand its international reach thanks to the relevance and influence that this event is gaining worldwide, and for the first time, the final is bringing together the same number of Spanish and international chefs. This edition will feature for the first time Benelux as a guest country, a territory comprising Belgium, the Netherlands (Netherlands) and Luxembourg, together with Italy, Germany and Portugal. These four chefs were selected in the semifinals held in their respective countries of origin by a jury made up of MICHELIN stars, while the four Spaniards were chosen by an internal jury after receiving more than one hundred nominations.

The eight finalists will compete in the final, which will be held on 28 October in the kitchens of the Le Cordon Bleu international cooking school in Madrid. In the morning, the chefs will prepare their recipes before a jury chaired by Martín Berasategui – eight MICHELIN Stars and gastronomic ambassador of Balfegó – and made up of renowned chefs, such as Toño Pérez, from Atrio***; Erwan Poudoulec, chef and technical director of the Le Cordon Bleu School of Haute Cuisine; Fina Puigdevall, from Les Cols** -Girona; Ricard Camarena, from Ricard Camarena**, and the food critics José Carlos Capel, from the magazine GastroAguidíam and Javi Antoja, from Montagud Editores. The jury will choose the three winners of the 7th edition of the contest organized by Balfegó, a company specializing in fishing, studying and marketing bluefin tuna, and the world’s largest exporter thanks to the quality and excellence of its product.

The jury will rate the flavor, aroma, and texture of each dish (40 points), the presentation (30 points), the balance of the ingredients (15 points), and the preparation and correct handling of the product (15 points). The participating chefs may be aided by a kitchen assistant from their respective restaurants.

More than €10,000 in prizes

On the evening of October 28, the Gran Teatro CaixaBank Príncipe Pío will host the awards ceremony, presented by Carlos Latre and Marina Valdés, and the subsequent cocktail dinner, provided by the gastronomic space Tunateca Balfegó, where the media, chefs and other VIPs will be able to enjoy the best bluefin tuna to close out the Chef Balfegó 2024 contest.

In addition to the trophy and a set of Japanese knives, the winning chef will receive €6,000 in cash and a trip to Japan for two, where they will spend a week getting to know the culinary and cultural richness of the Land of the Rising Sun. The second-place chef will receive €3,000 in prize money, while the third-place chef will get €1,000, along with a set of Japanese knives and an audiovisual report, respectively.

The contest boosts the careers of young culinary talents and has served as a prelude to earning a MICHELIN star, as in the case of Alejandro Serrano (Alejandro Serrano*) and Rafel Muria (Quatre Molins*), chefs who received the star after winning the title of Chef Balfegó. Rounding out the winners list are Juan Carlos Reyes, who won the first edition, representing ABaC***; Alejandro Polo, from the Bardal** restaurant; Gianluca Monni, Italian representative of La Dispensa de I Balocchi, and Alberto Montes, sous-chef of the Atrio*** Restaurant in Cáceres, who won the last edition.