Wairakei Resort's head pastry chef Anu Lakmal has reclaimed his title of New Zealand Pastry Chef of the Year for the second year running.
The 2018 New Zealand Hospitality Championships were held at ASB Showgrounds from August 11 to 14.
Induruwage Lakmal Anuradha, known as Anu, won gold and silver medals in each of his classes last year to claim the title of Pastry Chef of the Year.
This year the competition had the same three classes: a chocolate showpiece and petit fours (small bite-size desserts) that were to be made ahead of time and transported to the competition, and four plated desserts prepared live in front of the judges within an hour.
"For the chocolate showpiece we were assigned the theme of 'Our Team' so I created a lifelike piece that showed ants building a nest," he said.
"For the petit fours I provided a selection of sweet orange bonbons, pistachio cheese towers, salty caramel crispy rounds and lemon praline chocolate cake with lemon jujubs."
For the live section Lakmal produced a dish entitled 'Plenty of Taste' which consisted of layers of crunchy chocolate mousse & passion cream coated in a velvet chocolate spray with a side of baked passionfruit meringue crispy, Chantilly cream, almond crumble and torched orange segments.
Wairakei Resort Head Chef Matthias Kramer said Lakmal was a vital part of the kitchen team.
"With his passionate approach inside the pastry kitchen he delivers delicious and visual appealing desserts for events and our restaurants alike.
"His creative flair has once again proven to be a successful ingredient."
Wairakei Resort's pastry and breakfast chef Kirtika Grounder also performed strongly in the same sections, claiming a silver in the petit fours and bronze in the live plated dessert section.
On Monday morning Wairakei Resort also had two competitors in the live barista class.
Alicia Glynn claimed a gold and Smita Patil claimed a silver.
Patil said it was her first competition and while she was nervous heading in, she enjoyed herself.
"I learnt a lot from this experience, both during the competition itself, but also in the months practicing leading up to it," Patil said.
