{"id":46667,"date":"2025-09-08T22:33:23","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T20:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/balfego.com\/?p=46667"},"modified":"2025-09-10T09:23:54","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T07:23:54","slug":"chef-balfego-announces-its-8-finalists-for-the-2025-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/balfego.com\/en\/chef-balfego-announces-its-8-finalists-for-the-2025-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"Chef Balfeg\u00f3 announces its 8 finalists for the 2025 edition"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The semi-final for the prestigious culinary competition took place this morning at <strong>Le Cordon Bleu Paris<\/strong>, bringing together 15 top European chefs, and in which <strong>8 finalists<\/strong> were selected to compete in the upcoming final round.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Chef Balfeg\u00f3 2025<\/strong> already has its <strong>12 finalists<\/strong>. Today, during the semi-final held at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, fifteen of Europe\u2019s most promising culinary talents competed by presenting their most innovative creations, with <strong>Balfeg\u00f3 bluefin tuna<\/strong> as the star ingredient.<\/p>\n<p>After an intense deliberation, the jury \u2013 made up of eight European chefs holding a total of <strong>18 MICHELIN stars<\/strong> \u2013 selected the eight finalists who will compete in the<strong> Grand Final in Madrid on October 27th, 2025<\/strong>, which were revealed during the evening gala at the <strong>Newcap Event Center<\/strong>, after a traditional Japanese tuna-cutting ceremony (kaitai) ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>The eight candidates elected today for the final are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Andrea de Carlo<\/strong> (Bavarie by K\u00e4fer, Germany)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Berjen Wijling<\/strong> (Ron Gastrobar*, Netherlands)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Davide Polli<\/strong> (Pramerl &amp; The Wolf*, Austria)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Diego Duarte<\/strong> (The Yeatman**, Portugal)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Franz-Josef Unterlechner<\/strong> (Schwarzreiter, Germany)<\/li>\n<li><strong>L\u00e9o Besnard<\/strong> (Le Lion d&#8217;Or, Switzerland)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Shaurya Manchanda<\/strong> (L\u2019Atelier des Augustins*, France)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Athinagoras Kostakos<\/strong> (Noema, Greece)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These eight chefs will join the four winners of the Spanish national round \u2014<strong> Guillermo Ch\u00e1vez<\/strong> (Amelia, San Sebasti\u00e1n), <strong>Riccardo Radice<\/strong> (Fish\u00f8logy, Barcelona), <strong>Angelo Duarte<\/strong> (Brugarol, Barcelona), and <strong>Piero Aponte<\/strong> (El Molino de Urd\u00e1niz, Navarra) \u2014 to compete for the title of <strong>Chef Balfeg\u00f3 2025.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The final winner will receive prizes worth over \u20ac20,000, including a trip for two to Japan, a set of high-end Japanese knives, professional audiovisual coverage, and other exclusive rewards that underscore the prestige of the competition. The international professional cooking competition reached today one of its most significant milestones with the celebration of the semi-final at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. For the first time, the French capital hosted the event for the whole European continent.<\/p>\n<p>The competition began with an initial round in which participants submitted a recipe and a photograph. From over a hundred applications, the jury selected the entries that stood out for their technique, presentation, and originality. Fifteen semi-finalists from countries including <strong>France<\/strong>, <strong>Italy<\/strong>, <strong>Germany<\/strong>, <strong>Portugal<\/strong>, <strong>Greece<\/strong>, the <strong>Netherlands<\/strong>, <strong>Switzerland<\/strong>, and <strong>Austria<\/strong> presented this morning their dishes in Paris, once again featuring Balfeg\u00f3 bluefin tuna as the star ingredient.<\/p>\n<p>The 15 contestants for this edition\u2019s semi-final featured chefs from some of the most prestigious restaurants across Europe, including <strong>Anthony Gerbeau<\/strong> (L&#8217;Artimon, France), <strong>Athinagoras Kostakos<\/strong> (N\u00f5ema, Greece), <strong>Francisco Silva<\/strong> (Vila Foz*, Portugal), <strong>Jean Paul Tossens<\/strong> (Le Monast\u00e8re de Saint-Mont, France), <strong>Enrico Mantovanelli<\/strong> (Bistrot al 5, Italy), <strong>Lucas Vital<\/strong> (Vista*, Portugal), <strong>Diego Duarte<\/strong> (The Yeatman**, Portugal), <strong>Franz-Josef Unterlechner<\/strong> (Schwarzreiter, Germany), <strong>Valeria Dell\u2019Amico<\/strong> (Il Narciso, Italy), <strong>Martijn Wetsteijn<\/strong> (Fred**, Netherlands), <strong>Berjen Wijling<\/strong> (Ron Gastrobar*, Netherlands), <strong>Shaurya Manchanda<\/strong> (L\u2019Atelier des Augustins*, France), <strong>L\u00e9o Besnard<\/strong> (Le Lion d&#8217;Or, Switzerland), <strong>Davide Polli<\/strong> (Pramerl &amp; The Wolf*, Austria), and <strong>Andrea de Carlo<\/strong> (Bavarie by K\u00e4fer, Germany). They each had one hour to prepare their dish, and plate it for the jury to taste.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-46660 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/balfego.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250908_BALFEGO_SEMIFINAL_RAULBARBA05618-min-1-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"962\" height=\"641\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/balfego.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250908_BALFEGO_SEMIFINAL_RAULBARBA05618-min-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/balfego.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250908_BALFEGO_SEMIFINAL_RAULBARBA05618-min-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/balfego.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250908_BALFEGO_SEMIFINAL_RAULBARBA05618-min-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/balfego.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250908_BALFEGO_SEMIFINAL_RAULBARBA05618-min-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 962px) 100vw, 962px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The jury, made up of eight renowned European chefs who together hold <strong>18 MICHELIN<\/strong> <strong>stars<\/strong>: <strong>Christopher Coutanceau<\/strong>, (Christopher Coutanceau***, La Rochelle), <strong>Paolo Casagrande<\/strong> (Lasarte*** Barcelona), <strong>Heinz Reitbauer<\/strong> (Steirereck***, Viena), <strong>Viki Geunes<\/strong> (Zilte***, Amberes),<strong> Daniel Schimkowitsch<\/strong> (L.A. Jordan**, Deidesheim), <strong>Rui Paula<\/strong> (Casa de Ch\u00e1 da<br \/>\nBoa Nova**, Le\u00e7a da Palmeira), <strong>Domenico Stile<\/strong> (Enoteca La Torre**, Rome), judged the dishes and decided which eight finalists will advance to Madrid.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-46632 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/balfego.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250908_BALFEGO_SEMIFINAL_RAULBARBA02213-2-min-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"965\" height=\"643\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/balfego.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250908_BALFEGO_SEMIFINAL_RAULBARBA02213-2-min-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/balfego.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250908_BALFEGO_SEMIFINAL_RAULBARBA02213-2-min-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/balfego.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250908_BALFEGO_SEMIFINAL_RAULBARBA02213-2-min-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/balfego.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250908_BALFEGO_SEMIFINAL_RAULBARBA02213-2-min-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/balfego.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250908_BALFEGO_SEMIFINAL_RAULBARBA02213-2-min-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 965px) 100vw, 965px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The grand finale will take place at <strong>Le Cordon Bleu Madrid on October 27th<\/strong>, <strong>2025<\/strong>, where the new Chef Balfeg\u00f3 will be named. A total of 12 chefs will compete for the title: the eight winners from today\u2019s semi-final in Paris and the four finalists from the Spanish nationa round \u2014 Guillermo Ch\u00e1vez (Amelia**, San Sebasti\u00e1n), Riccardo Radice (Fish\u00f8logy*, Barcelona), Angelo Duarte (Brugarol, Barcelona), and Piero Aponte (El Molino de Urd\u00e1niz**, Navarra). The winner will receive prizes worth over \u20ac20,000, including a trip for two to Japan, a set of high-end Japanese knives, professional audiovisual coverage, and other exclusive rewards that underscore the prestige of the competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The semi-final for the prestigious culinary competition took place this morning at Le Cordon Bleu Paris, bringing together 15 top European chefs, and in which 8 finalists were selected to compete in the upcoming final round. Chef Balfeg\u00f3 2025 already has its 12 finalists. Today, during the semi-final held at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/balfego.com\/en\/chef-balfego-announces-its-8-finalists-for-the-2025-edition\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":46653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/balfego.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/balfego.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/balfego.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balfego.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balfego.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46667"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/balfego.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46668,"href":"https:\/\/balfego.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46667\/revisions\/46668"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balfego.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/balfego.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balfego.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balfego.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}