Columbia's Pastry Chef Crowned Pastry Chef of The Year
30th Nov 2021
At Columbia Confectionery, our commitment to serving the best, means working with the best! We are honoured to announce that one of our very own Pastry Chefs, Mr. Panayiotis Kotsias, has won the title ‘Pastry Chef of the Year 2021-2022’ earning the Gold Medal in the Professional Pastry Competition Category, at the highly acclaimed HO.RE.CA Gastronomia Expo.
The Expo is the largest culinary festival in Cyprus, organized by the Cyprus Chefs Association, aiming to celebrate excellence through various competitions covering all chef titles and specialities.
With just 8 years of experience and already holding the title of Pastry Chef of the Year 2019 – 2020, Panayiotis Kotsias competed against seasoned professionals, mostly from the hotel industry, in a three-hour high-level contest that included the preparation, baking and presentation of:
- Two chocolate cakes (1000 -1200 gr.)
- Six restaurant level plated desserts
- Two types of petit four to serve three, plus an additional platter for the judges
An unflinching Chef Kotsias rose to the challenge, combining his detail-oriented focus and distinctive enthusiasm to exquisitely create dish after dish of beautiful and delicious masterpieces. His deep understanding of classic confectionery techniques combined with his signature fresh approach to developing flavours and textures, resulted in him surpassing patissiers with decades of professional and competitive experience.
The Columbia Confectionery team couldn’t be prouder of our talented pastry chef, who has worked hard to rise through the ranks of a very challenging industry, setting the gold standard in confectionery-making, island-wide.
