VANCOUVER — Chef Daniel Kim has been named the 2018 winner of the Hawksworth Young Chef Scholarship.
The scholarship is a Canada-wide competition for chefs under 28, with a $10,000 grand prize, which also includes an apprenticeship at an international restaurant of their choice. As part of the competition, chefs are given a box of mystery ingredients they have to incorporate into their dishes. Chefs have two hours to cook a main course and 45 minutes to create a dessert.
This year’s competition boxes contained a whole duck, guanciale (an Italian cured meat prepared from pork cheeks), 70-per-cent dark chocolate, butternut squash, eggs and honey. Kim’s entrée was a roasted duck breast with farce, duck jus, spiced butternut squash purée, roasted squash, potato fondant cooked in guanciale fat, celery and pine mushroom. For dessert, he prepared a dark-chocolate mousse, raspberry coulis, local honey crème pâtissière, walnut crumble and sable — a type of shortbread.
“I love what I do…I love waking up for it,” says Kim.
Kim currently works at Vancouver’s Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar, but started his culinary career by cooking instant noodles. Beginning his career at age 16, he has worked at a small Mexican restaurant, Earl’s and the upscale West Restaurant in Vancouver. While Kim was thrilled to win, he has yet to decide where to apprentice.
