After an intense two-hour cook-off, Donal Byrne from SETU Waterford came second to win the Silver Medal at this year’s Knorr Student Chef of the Year competition.

This year ten student chefs from North and South of the country took part in the competition, which was hosted at TUS Athlone Campus.

Donal and the other student chefs were challenged to prepare a two-course menu comprising main and dessert, inspired by this year’s theme “Good Mood Food”.

For his main course, Donal prepared Pan Seared John Dory, Haricot beans & Smoked Bacon, Langoustine Tail Tortellini, Bisque. And for dessert, he prepared Raw Wicklow Honey and Ginger Panna Cotta, Beetroot & Honey Pearls, Honey Tuile Beetroot Gel.

The overall winner of the Knorr® Professional Student Chef of the Year 2025 competition was Yeshuah O’Brien Bayer from TUS Moylish Campus Limerick.

The Bronze Medal was won by Eliška Semanová from ATU Galway.

This year’s judging panel was made up of award-winning chef, broadcaster, columnist and Executive Chef at the K-Club, Gary O’Hanlon, Executive Director of Culinary and Craft at Aramark Ireland, Derek Reilly and Audrey Crone, Executive Chef Ireland, Unilever Food Solutions.

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