Olive Ona well into the swing of prepping for Nestle Golden Chef Hat grand final

Olive Ona has been preparing for the Nestle Golden Chef Hat grand final in Melbourne. Photos / Supplied

Rotorua's Olive Ona has been preparing and practicing hard, getting ready to cook up a storm at the Nestle Golden Chef Hat grand final.

The Toi Ohomai culinary arts student was crowned the North Island regional winner of the Nestle Golden Chef Hat competition at the end of last month.

She is now preparing to take on the best young chefs from New Zealand and Australia at the grand final in Melbourne on September 5 and 6.

The finals cook-off is being held in the ACF Culinary Challenge Arena at Fine Food Australia at Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Two to three days after the North Island regional competition she was sent the requirements for the grand final.

Olive has been preparing hard since, with mentoring from her tutors Tikwang Tan and Jonathan Chemis.

She works on her dishes and competition preparation two days a week, having to fit it around studying and working at Junction on Fenton.

She says the process has been a bit stressful, as this has been her first regional and international competition, while other for competitors it is their second or third experience.

"All I can do is my best."

In the North Island regional competition, Olive dished up a pork medallion and tomato pork ragout, gnocchi and sauteed silver beet.

For dessert, she plated a choux pastry filled with coffee bavarois, royal ganache garnish with a nutty crumble.

Olive says her changes to the menu for the grand final features a lot of different skills to focus on.

Another challenge is that in the grand final, equipment is limited, compared to the regional where everything was available.

This will mean more time washing equipment in between, she says.

Her menu for the grand final includes a vegetarian entree with tofu and soba noodles. Her main is similar to that of the regional competition, but she is changing it with a kumara puree and different garnishes. Her dessert is cream puffs and donuts.

Olive says she wants to win, but as she has not travelled in a long time, she is also excited to be able to travel to another country again.

When asked what it is about cooking she loves, Olive said: "It's the reaction from people when they love the food that I cook, learning different types of food, and I love eating as well. I just want to explore and learn about food."

She says a massive thank you to her tutors for their support throughout the competitions.