The Galvin Cup Blog

Fred Sirieix, General Manager of Galvin at Windows comments,

'Et voila, after exactly one year of intense organisation, meetings, endless phone calls and many many e-mails The Galvin Cup 2009 has been awarded once more to two talented and creative bartenders: Riccardo Semeria-The Connaught andJeoffrey Anthony Warmerdam- student at NHTV. There is no doubt in my mind that this year's Cup was the best so far and will be a tough act to follow for next year. Indeed the competition saw "la creme de la creme" of the bar world mixing and shaking for the 1st prize. Tension and the desire to win was evident on all the bartenders faces especially as they were being watched and judged by such household names as Robbie Bargh, Peter Dorelli, Salvatore Calabrese, Silvano Giraldin, Remy Lyseor Lino Marchese to name but a few. The search has already started for next year's venue to host The Galvin Cup 2010, one thing is for sure the Cup has now taken a life of its own because of your support and for that we are immensely grateful. Thank you and see you next year.'

Fred

Riccardo Semeria of The Connaught wins the 2009 Galvin Cup!

Congratulations to all participants, winners and sponsors on a very successful Galvin Cup! 

Official Results Bartenders:

1st place:  Riccardo Semeria-The Connaught

2nd place:  Carolin Weise-One Aldwych

3rd place:  Gavin McGowan Madoo-St. Albans

4th place:  Mirko Falconi-The Lanesborough

5th place:  Mickael Perron-Sanderson

6th place:  Stefano Cossio-The Dorchester

Official Results Students:

1st place: Jeoffrey Anthony Warmerdam-NHTV

2nd place: James Coston-Leeds Metropolitan University

3rd place: Xiang Xiang Lu-Croydon College

4th place: Victor Ortells-Hospitality Agency

5th place: James O'Keeffe-Westminster College

6th place: Wesley Yeung-Brookes

Julia Parsons, British food writer and the author food blog 'A Slice of Cherry Pie' comments:

'The Galvin Cup is just around the corner and I feel extremely honoured to have been asked to help judge it this year. It looks set to be a fun and spectacular event and I’m delighted to be a part of it. 

I’m in complete awe of the art of mixology. As a food writer and recipe creator I know how important it is to find the right balance of flavours and how difficult it can to be to come up with something new and exciting. I’m very much looking forward to seeing the crème de la crème of London’s bartending scene in action and sampling their creations.

 I’ll be using technology to the full at the event to share it with the world, using my BlackBerry to Twitter <http://twitter.com/JuliaCherryPie> the event and blogging <http://asliceofcherrypie.blogspot.com/> about it when I get back home (if I’m sober enough to do so, that is).

 I’d like to thank Galvin at Windows for asking me to take part in the Galvin Cup and wish all of the competitors the very best of luck.'

Chris Galvin comments:

'Four weeks to go and the competition feels like it already has a life of its own, its has been great to hear from friends both old and new finalising their plans for the big day. I never imagined that the competition would grow into something so special in the bars calender quite so quickly. Ihave so many people to thank for their tireless support and energy (Luca, Dan, Russel & Zoe, Robbie, Nigel to name but a few) Icant tell you how proud I am of the competitors who have put so much thought effort and creativity into their entries, as a keen competitor of many culinary competitions myself I know that it takes a lot of courage and spirit to compete with your peers especially in front of the crowds the Galvin cup is now attracting. I always think that although there has to be overall winners,thereality is that everyone achieves something by being chosen to represent their hotel,bar or college. I alsothink it shows just how proud your employers and lecturers are of you. Finally I would also like to thank the supporters and friends of the competitors, they really add to the day, they play a big part in creating the atmosphere on the day.'

chin chin

Chris

Martini Masterclass-Marco Ercolano, Assistant Bar Manager of Galvin at Windows and 2008 Galvin Cup Winner demonstrates how to make the classic Martini with Belvedere's new Vodka.

Video filmed and edited by Katherine Alano, community editor of Caterer's new networking site Table Talk. www.caterersearch.com/tabletalk