Who's the whizziest kitchen whiz of them all? Here's this year's nominees for Chef of the Year. Show your most-loved restaurants, eateries and food personalities you care – and enter for a chance to win a trip to Macau while you’re at it! Click here to vote for your city favourites – shortlisted or not.
Beth Cosgrove
Over the last year, Chicago-born Beth Cosgrove has taken the Shanghai outpost of modern Hawaiian restaurant Alan Wong’s and charged ahead full throttle. Case in point: kalua pig grilled cheese and pho beef French dips. And when she’s not cooking up a storm in the Shanghai Centre, she’s bucking the status quo with things like a raw food dinner.
Alan Wong's Shanghai Second Floor, Shanghai Centre, 1376 Nanjing Xi Lu, near Xikang Lu, Jingan district.
Kasper Elmholdt Pederson
Fresh off stint at Copenhagen’s superlative Geist, Danish Chef Kasper Elmholdt Pederson arrived in Shanghai in 2016 to lead the kitchen at hip new Nordic eatery Pelikan. Tasked with making a cuisine predicated first and foremost on ‘the local’ in a locale he was only just beginning to know, we’ve already seen great things from this thoughtful, inspired young chef, and expect to see a lot more ahead.
Pelikan 225 Xikang Lu, near Beijing Lu, Jingan district.
Danyi Gao
Formerly of Mr & Mrs Bund and Calypso and now head chef of 1960s-themed supper club Shake, Danyi Gao adds even more soul and spice to the nighttime lounge’s funked-up vibes via a fusion menu that pulls inspiration from her travels; most notably her riffs on Southeast Asian dishes. Aside from the stops she’s pulling over there, in her spare time Gao also runs a private dining venture called ‘Fable’ (wordplay on farm to table); where four to 16 guests get to indulge in a beautiful bespoke meal designed around seasonality and their desired price point.
Shake Third Floor, 120 Jinxian Lu, near Maoming Nan Lu, Huangpu district.
Jenő Rácz
A stint in the world-renowned kitchen of Copenhagen’s Noma, a role alongside Joel Robuchon in Singapore, and now chef de cuisine at Michelin-starred Taian Table – having not yet seen his 30th birthday, Jenő Rácz’s culinary career is already hotter than hot. The young Hungarian chef only arrived in Shanghai a little over a year ago, and it seems like he’s just getting started.
Taian Table Exact location provided on required reservation. Zhenning Lu, near Xinzha Lu, Changning district.
Freddy Raoult
Bringing a decade of experience in Helsinki first to The Nest and this year to The Cannery, Executive Chef Freddy Raoult’s talents make the raw and seafood-focused dining menus shine at these stylish restaurants. With flawlessly executed, polished-yet-casual dishes like a glazed, roasted tuna jaw and fish tacos to seasonal showstoppers like a duck stuffed with a pair of pigeons, porcini and foie to a whole smoked salmon done over an indoor fire pit, Raoult makes the gastrolounge concept seem both effortless and effortlessly cool. Not an easy task.
The Cannery Room 106, 1107 Yuyuan Lu, near Jiangsu Lu, Changning district.
Carlos Sotomayor
There are few restaurants in town as fun as elEfante, which may be in large part to its courtyard bangers like the Dumbo Truck food festival or 12-hour Febria de Abril food and wine festival, but is also to Carlos Sotomayor. Starting his Shanghai career as a sous chef at el Willy before a stretch at Tomatito, the Peruvian chef has made elEfante his own this last year and is making his stamp on Shanghai, with frequent collaborations and off-the-chain dishes. ‘Gin and tonic’ cured salmon explosion, anyone?
elEfante 20 Donghu Lu, near Huaihai Zhong Lu, Xuhui district.
Scan the QR code below to vote for your favourite chef to win the Chef of the Year Award.
