The newly opened The Palace hotel carried away eight prestigious awards at the recent Malta Kulinarja, the Biannual Cookery and Culinary Arts Championships organised by the Malta Cookery and Food Association, at the Dolmen Resort Hotel.

The Palace’s team, led by executive chef Joseph Xuereb, included pastry chef Gordon Galea, sous chef Mark Briffa, and junior sous chef Mark Mizzi together with Daniel Bonnici, Anthony Hawkins, Reno Abela and Fredrick Pulis. The team enjoyed the merited triumph of four gold, one silver and three bronze medals, along with three merits out of nine entries.

Pastry chef Gordon Galea won three gold awards in the categories for senior decorated celebration cake, petit fours and practical dessert. Daniel Bonnici won a gold and a bronze medal in the category for senior lamb and pasta dishes; Anthony Hawkins won the silver in the category for junior chef of the year. Reno Abela won bronze and merit in the category for junior duck and first course plated starters. Fredrick Pulis won the bronze in junior fish dish while Mark Briffa was given a merit in the senior decorated celebration cake and Melvin Borg was given a merit for the junior pasta dish.

One of the highlights for The Palace came when Daniel Bonnici achieved Best in Class in the Overall Senior Practical Competitor and when Gordon Galea received the much sought-after title of Senior Pastry Chef of the Year after achieving the highest score in the Overall Pastry Category.

The Biannual Cookery and Culinary Arts Championships, held in November, was open to chefs in Malta and Gozo. Spread over four days, the entries are judged by a panel of eight international judges from the UK, Holland, Germany, Italy and Cyprus assisted by Maltese judges. The competition was divided into two sections: one for static entries and another for live cooking. This year’s championships featured over 50 events involving over 200 participants, including two international teams from Scotland and Romania.