A Hawke's Bay-born chef has wowed international judges with his culinary talent, earning him the coveted Chef of the Year title at the International Salon Culinaire in Dubai.
Daniel Brooker said he took out the supreme award at the annual competition as part of Gulfood, the Middle East's largest and mostimportant exhibition for the food, beverage and hospitality industries.
"It is a great personal and professional achievement. Being awarded the highest accolade by some of the most recognised experts of our industry is very flattering," Mr Brooker said.
More than 1300 chefs competed between February 27 to March 2 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, where they were judged by a panel of 25 experts from the World Association of Chefs Societies.
Mr Brooker's father, Maurice, said Daniel was born in Hastings where he attended Mahora School before moving to Auckland with his family in the late 1990s.
He said his son started in the kitchen at 16, and had had a highly successful cheffing career since, winning multiple awards all over the world - an impressive feat for a chef of just 27.
"We're really proud of him. He's a little bugger because he just sent me a text saying there's a photo in your emails, and there it was of him holding the award.
"He's terrible at taking praise, we'd just been there about three weeks before and he didn't even mention to us it was happening. There will be a cook book in a few years, just you wait."
The accomplishment adds to the Hastings man's already impressive list of culinary accolades, including the Junior Culinarian of the Year title, and two gold medals from the Olympia Culinary competitions.
He worked for SkyCity in Auckland for several years. Now he is a head chef at Le Meridien Hotel in Abu Dhabi, a five-star hotel in the business district.
