Chef Middle East hosted the 3rd season of their flagship event ‘The Bar Craft Challenge 2022’ – an annual beverage competition that brings together the UAE’s best mixology talents to compete for a grand prize.
In collaboration with Les vergers Boiron (premium fruit purees from France), Fentimans (UK-based botanically brewed beverages), and Path Bar School, the aim of this competition was to crown the “Bar Stars” of 2022 who represent the industry’s originality, technicality, and passion in their drinks and persona.
The thrilling competition saw close to 150 submissions from bartenders across the country. After 2 rounds of eliminations, and a semi finale at Path Bar School, the eight finalists were shortlisted to participate and present their drinks to an esteemed panel of judges – Max La Rocca (International Bar Competitions and Hospitality Trainer), Nana Sechere (Creative Catalyst at Host Masters), and Guru Prashant (Johnnie Walker Brand Ambassador at African & Eastern).
The finale took place at TABU Dubai where the contestants were tasked with the presentation of two original creations: a mocktail and a cocktail in seven minutes. Each finalist had to impress the judges with their recipe featuring Fentimans and Les vergers Boiron products, their knowledge of the drink and brands, their execution, and flavour of the drinks.
A huge congratulations to the UAE’s “Bar Stars” – Vladimir Klymenko from Royal Atlantis The Palm and Adonai Reyna from Clay Dubai, who won the 3rd and 2nd place in the competition. Aman Singh Negi from FRNDS Grand Cafe was victoriously crowned the winner of The Bar Craft Challenge 2022 and won the grand prize – a trip to France!
Tauland Hyka, Beverage Manager at Chef Middle East shared, “The participation and talent we saw at this year’s event were absolutely exceptional. We are grateful to be an integral part of the bartending and mixology community, here in the UAE, that is bursting with innovation and ideas. We organized this competition as a platform for bartenders across the country to showcase their talent, finesse, and originality and we were amazed with the results. Congratulations to the community, our amazing finalists, and winners!”
Brent Henderson, PATH Bar School Training Manager added, “The Bar Craft Challenge was a great introduction to the many products that Chef Middle East has in its portfolio. It was also great to see how it got all levels of bartenders involved from the industry.”
The energy at the finale was nothing short of electric. Bar professionals from across the UAE came to watch and cheer on their industry peers as the finalists battled it out for the title of the UAE’s next ‘Bar Star’ of 2022.
Krissa Brown Stevenson, Territory Manager at Fentimans Ltd said, “The Bar Craft Challenge was another great success in 2022 and Fentimans were honoured to be a part of this competition run by our partners, Chef Middle East. After such disruption in the global hospitality sector in the last 3 years since the pandemic, it is more important than ever to engage with the bar community and this is a great way to showcase the talent within the industry and how Fentimans botanically brewed beverages can be used with creative flair”
For nearly 80 years, Les vergers Boiron has concentrated all its energy and experience on developing fruit solutions to release the creative talent of chefs, pastry chefs and mixologists all over the world. Claire Vissac, Marketing Coordinator EMEA at Les vergers Boiron chimed, “We were pleased to sponsor the Bar Craft Challenge again to enhance the utilization of fruit purees in cocktails and to enable the mixologists to use their creativity and passion into building such inspiring drinks.”
Chef Middle East also hosted, in collaboration with Max La Rocca, a masterclass at Buddha Bar Dubai to kickstart the buzz for the finale. Max La Rocca presented his theory on ‘The Ninja Mindset’ and the 3 C’s of bartending: CURIOUS, CORRECT, CONSISTENT.
To sum up the experience, Max La Rocca shared with us, “Paying extra attention to every single detail, I was amazed to interact with a community of professionals who are friendly, creative, and genuine at the same time! The finalists certainly surprised me – they did a huge amount of research to understand their guests’ needs, they used intriguing ingredients including sustainable resources, and they managed to showcase creative ways to save money for their bars. What I noticed was also an intelligent balance between using current techniques without forgetting the speed of service. Aman, our competition’s winner, had the perfect balance of charisma and technique – elements that showed he is ready to represent the UAE to the world.”
As the market grows, Chef Middle East’s partnerships with world-class names in the beverage industry enables them to offer unbeatable experience like never before. The bar community is ensured that they have a loyal partner to help shape the world of mixology in the Middle East region.
The finalists:
- Aman Singh Negi – FRNDS Grand Café
- Adonai Reyna – Clay Dubai
- Vladimir Klymenko – Royal Atlantis the Palm
- Erion Bardhoci – 53 Dubai
- Maria Paula Romero – The Nice Guy
- Nishmi Suvarna – The Trilogy by Buddha Bar
- Osmari Corredorr – Mimi Kakushi
- Ricky Hardivianto – Waldorf Astoria DIFC
