Yesterday, the final of the 2018 edition of the C3 restaurant dessert competition organized by Valrhona,took place at the StarChefs congress in New York. The Japanese chef Yusuke Aoki, of the Four Seasons Hotel in Bali (Indonesia) won a hard-fought victory, coming just ahead of the Italian chef Ettore Beligni, of the Fat Duck restaurant in Bray (England), while the French chef Ciryl Gaidella of the CFA Mederic in Paris got the special press jury prize, in which our correspondent Santiago Corral participated.

The result was really very tight between first and second place. Yusuke Aoki seemed more convincing to the jury with his pre-dessert of shiso sorbet with plum wine, baked pineapple, and a pairing of Opalys chocolate with Balinese kaffir milk and lemon. The plated dessert also deserved an excellent score, although closely followed by the Italian chef Ettore Beligni, a very geometric composition in which several textures interacted, a choux paste filled with lemon confit, chocolate pudding, panna cotta sorbet, streusel, and caramel sauce, with an ice cream and creamy cube, both in a dark couverture of Manjari origin.

The rest of the participants also did an exceptional job, for five hours they had to prepare a pre-dessert and a plated dessert, each one around a Valrhona chocolate. Yusuke Aoki also won a cash prize of 5,000 euros.

More photos of all the participants: @varlhonausa