Background:
On 22nd May 2007 The London Hilton on Park Lane played host to the first ever Galvin Cup; a mixology competition offering both professionals and non-professionals the opportunity to showcase their skills in front of a live panel of judges including footballer Graham Le Saux and respected members of the industry such as Silvano Giraldin, Salvatore Calabrese, Gorgeous Group founder, Robbie Bargh, and Springboard CEO Anne Pierce.
This fantastic event, now heading into its sixth year, was the brainchild of Galvin at Windows general manager, Fred Sirieix (winner of the best front of house award at the Tatler Restaurant Awards 2007, personality of the year 2011 at the Restaurant Awards and co-host of the BBC2 series Michel Roux's Service) and Chef Patron Chris Galvin. They felt it was about time that bar staff, like chefs, received recognition for their efforts and a chance to shine.
The professionals are recruited from the Europe's top hotels, bars and restaurants while the non-professionals come from catering colleges from all over Europe.
Previous winners:
The winners of the Galvin Cup 2011:
1st place: Alessandro Pizzoli, The Kensington Hotel
2nd place: Dario Provenzano, The Dorchester
3rd place: Daniel Carvalho, Good Godfrey’s The Waldorf Hotel
4th place: Swanad Korgaonkar, The Savoy
5th place: Harry Glockler, The Ritz
6th place: Salvatore Damiano, Captains Club Hotel
Winner Alessandro Pizzoli
Official Results Students:
1st place: Ramon Ramos, Westminster Kingsway College
2nd place: Nuappa Rattanakistunthorn, Westminster Kingsway College
3rd place: Laure De Fromant de Bouaille, Lycee Ferrandi Paris, France
4th place: Stacey Crawford, Croydon College
5th place: Bobby Thompson, Croydon College
6th place: Jia Yu To, Westminster Kingsway College
Left to right: Chris Galvin, winner Ramon Ramos, Fred Sirieix,
Nigel Barden and Luca Cordiglieri
The winners of the Galvin Cup 2010:
Professionals
1. Bruno Do Nascimento, Dorchester Hotel
2. Daniele Del Giudice, Bath Spa Hotel
3. Mirko Falconi, Lanesborough Hotel
Students
1. Ms Rocio Torres, Studet of The Culinary Institure of Mexico
2. Mr Nathan Delroy Faulkner, Westminster College
3. Mr Emmanuel Taborda, High School Ferrandi France
From left to right: Mirko Falconi (runner up of professionals),
Bruno Do Nascimento (winner of the professionals),
Ms Rocio Torres (winner of the Students) and Daniele Del Giudice
(runner up professionals).
The winners of the Galvin Cup 2009
Riccardo Semeria of The Connaught Wins The Galvin Cup!
Official Results Bartenders:
1st place: Riccardo Semeria-The Connaught
2nd place: Carolin Weise-One Aldwych
3rd place: Gavin McGowen 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
The winners of the Galvin Cup 2008
In 2008 the winner for the student's competition was Lucy Child (Westminster College)
The winner for the professional's competition was Marco Ercolano (Milestones Hotel)
The special prizes went to:
Graeme Le Saux prize
Emily Williamson (Light Bar)
Robbie Bargh prize
Aaron Marshall (City college Plymouth)
Silvano Giraldin prize
Simon Wagner (Gleneagles)
The winners of the Galvin Cup 2007
In 2007, the non-professional competition saw Maxime Croizer from High School Ferrandi in Paris triumph over his peers to take 1st place, closely followed by runners up Simone Brewster from Croydon College and Gregoire Longe from Lychee Hotelier de Souillac.
1st prize winner in the professional competition went to Salvatore Maggio from The Cumberland Hotel
Renan Lejeune from Zeta Bar followed in a close 2nd place and 3rd prize was won by Manuel Soro from Salvatore at Fifty.