Marcus McGuinness, 24-year-old second chef at Le Champignon Sauvage, Cheltenham, and Leah Fellstad, 25-year-old head waiter at Rhodes Twenty Four in London, were the winners of the 2005 Young Chef and Young Waiter competition respectively.

The winning pair were presented with their prizes by Lord Stratford, formerly Tony Banks MP, at an awards ceremony attended by a number of industry leaders at the House of Commons Members’ Dining Room on Monday 3 October.

Second prizes went to Kevin Sutherland (25) from No 1 restaurant at the Balmoral Hotel, Edinburgh, and Karin Ottenloher (23) from The Westin Turnberry Resort in Ayrshire, with Neil Borthwick (24) from The Connaught, London, and Joseph Durrant (23) from Atrium restaurant in Edinburgh, taking third place respectively.

There were eight contestants in each of the chef and waiting competitions.

Presenting the prizes, Lord Stratford said that hospitality is one of the UK’s greatest industries, adding that that the country had been accused of presenting poor food but now chefs had reached superstar status with their cooking.

“Jamie Oliver’s campaign to improve school food has demonstrated how important the issue of food is and the Young Chef Young Waiter competition is a great showcase for young talent,” he said.

“It is very important for us to nurture these talented youngsters so that we can maintain the standards set in the industry.”

The finals took place at Westminster Kingsway College before a panel of expert judges.

The eight young waiters demonstrated their service expertise when serving an amuse-bouche and a three-course meal, all prepared and cooked by the eight chef finalists as part of their own competition.

For the chefs, the amuse-bouche and starter were a free interpretation, as was the main course, but they were expected to use monkfish tail as the main ingredient.

Dessert was prepared from a box of surprise ingredients, which included figs, pineapple, treacle, port, chilli and half a loaf of Pain d’epice.

The Young Chef and Young Waiter 2005 each won £2,000 cash and a week’s study trip to Barbados.

Second prize winners received £1,000 cash and a weekend for two at Pennyhill Park in Surrey and third prize winners receivde £500 cash plus £500 worth of catering equipment from Hansens.