A 19-year-old from New Zealand has been crowned the 2025 Nestlé Golden Chef of the Year, after graduating from Auckland University of Technology just last month.
Chef Emily Morgan was announced as the winner at an awards dinner on Wednesday night, after she competed in the grand final of the competition earlier this week.
The win followed Morgan’s efforts in June, when she won the New Zealand North Island heat. This week, Morgan outcooked 11 of the best young chefs in Australia and New Zealand to take out the top prize of a $12,000 AUD culinary experience.
Morgan says competing in the Nestlé Golden Chef ‘s Hat Award is about expressing who she is as a chef and what she can contribute to the hospitality world moving forward in her career.
“It’s been an honour to share the stage with such talented chefs, and I am so grateful to each of the finalists for their ongoing support and friendship throughout this experience,” says Morgan.
“This is certainly a milestone moment, and I hope there will be many more to come as I look ahead to new opportunities and travel through food.”
Morgan also won the most creative use of a Nestlé Product award, receiving a $1,200 Solidtekics Aus-Ion package. She was also awarded $2,500 as part of the Nestlé Docello best dessert dish, bringing her total prize value to $15,700 AUD.
Her winning dishes included a vegetarian entrée of Buondi coffee smoked baby beets, whipped ricotta, fennel, basil wafer, and pistachio. Her main was a perfectly seared horopito spiced lamb rump, with Japanese squash, shallot crème, asparagus and sugar snap peas, savoury fig compote, and an innovative lamb floss.
Inspired by a recent trip to Thailand, her dessert course was a white chocolate mousse, mango jelly, passionfruit curd, Maggi coconut milk powder-coated puffed rice, and lemongrass meringue.
The judges from the Australian Culinary Federation, NZChefs, Nestlé Professional, and industry professionals awarded Morgan’s three-course menu a trio of gold medals. It was a highly contested year with two other finalists also scoring three gold medals each.
Nestlé Executive Chef and Golden Chef judge Elke Travers says Morgan’s dishes demonstrated passion, remarkable creativity, meticulous attention to detail, and highly technical skills.
“Each course told a story and showcased a deep understanding of flavour and presentation. Her approach on the day was stand-out, perfectly executing a range of complex elements under the pressure of the clock and live audience,” says Travers.
Now in its 60th year, the competition is Australia’s longest-running culinary program launching the careers of more than 8,000 young chefs. This year saw a record-breaking 357 entries.
Other winners this year included Chef Ashleigh Handsaker for the best signature dish, Chef Brooke Moore for the most sustainable dish, Chef Nicholas Rudeforth for the best savoury dish and Chef Baxter Sanderson for the Buondi crafting moments award.
Speaking at the competition on Tuesday, the day after she had cooked, Handsaker told Hospitality she loves to compete.
“It’s fun and it does a lot for your confidence as well, and you learn a lot,” says Handsaker, who was in the finals for the fourth time.
“You get a lot of feedback too, and it is things you might not have thought about. It’s about getting more confidence and pushing yourself to be better every year.”
She said she found this year the most enjoyable yet.
“I was a lot calmer. After doing it a few times, you’re still stressed but you’re less stressed. You can just enjoy it and be in the moment with it.”
Sarah Jones, an alumni from South Australia who competed up until last year, came back to help support this year’s competitors.
“It’s always good to come here with Nestle. They support the young chefs so much and they do so much for them. It opens up so many doors,” says Jones.
“I never actually took it out, the competition as a whole, which sucks but it’s fine because every year I came, I learnt something new, and at the end of the day you don’t learn from winning all the time.”
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