On the Town: Two Irishmen will represent Ireland at the "Oscars of the culinary world" in France this month. Chef Stephen Brothers, private chef to Dr Edward Haughey of Norbrook Pharmaceuticals and commis chef Trevor Cunningham of the Nuremore Hotel in Monaghan are confident they will impress the judges in Lyon when they compete against chefs from 24 countries.
Contestants must prepare 14 portions of a meat dish and 14 portions of a fish dish as well as 84 garnishes - all in under five hours.
"I can't wait to get over there," said Brothers.
"It's the event of the year," said Ross Lewis, of Dublin's Chapter One restaurant and a member of the panel of top chefs who have helped in the development of the showpiece dishes for the competition. The dishes include a whole roasted monkfish in black olive oil and roast loin and rack of veal with five-spiced roulade of veal belly.
"It's the 100 metres of the Olympics . . . It generally attracts all the Michelin Star restaurants from around the world," Lewis added at an event in the Shelbourne Hotel this week to launch the Irish team for the Bocuse d'Or World Cuisine Contest 2005. "You need somebody who is ambitious, who has great flair, pays incredible attention to detail and, most of all, someone who is disciplined - and there's an artistic side to it."
"Presentation, taste and originality" are what the judges will seek, said John Howard, former chef and owner of Dublin's Le Coq Hardi and Irish judge at the contest.
Marc Amand, a former chef and managing director of La Rousse Foods, which is the main sponsor of the Irish team, said the most difficult job for Brothers on the day will be "to keep his nerve during the competition".
Other chefs who came to se the food produced by Brothers and Cunningham included Lorcan Cribbin, of Bang Café; Guillaume Lebrun, of Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud; and Christophe Prud'Homme, of the Shelbourne Hotel.