Looking for London’s next up and coming chef? It might just be Vasyl Fysiuk, senior sous chef at Notting Hill’s modern Ukrainian restaurant, Sino, who has won the UK regional final of the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition 2026–27.
After a day of intense cooking at Le Cordon Bleu yesterday, Fysiuk clinched his place at the competition’s global final in Milan next year. His winning dish, named “Becoming, to this day…”, featured pork tenderloin glazed with elderberry and smoked pear, accompanied by cabbage, beetroot, apple and sauerkraut.
Celebrated chefs Emily Roux (Caractere), Angelo Sato (Humble Chicken), Sally Abé (Teal), Will Murray (Fallow), Chantelle Nicholson (Apricity) and Stuart Ralston (Lyla) judged the competition.
For the founder of Hackney’s Teal, Abé, it was the connection between Fysiuk’s cooking and his heritage that truly set him apart. “We were all blown away by every single element of his dish. It was an elegant, precise and very well-executed plate of food,” she said. “The sauerkraut foam was a revelation.
“The amount of work involved was clear to the eye, but also on the palate. His story alongside it was incredibly genuine and representative of his heritage.”
For Ukranian-born Fysiuk, the dish was a way to bring together his heritage and the techniques he has picked up working at different restaurants throughout his career so far. “It’s about where I’ve come from, the experiences that have shaped me and how I continue to evolve as a chef,” he said. “I wanted to take the traditions I grew up with and reinterpret them through everything I’ve learnt, while always showing respect for the ingredients. To have that story recognised means so much, and I can’t wait to represent the UK in Milan next year.”
In the run up to the global final, Fysiuk will continue working with his mentor Tom Phillips, of the two-Michelin-starred Restaurant Story, to refine his winning dish.
What’s more, he wasn’t the only London chef recognised for his skill. Benedict Shimwell of Simon Rogan’s Auliss won the S.Pellegrino for Social Responsibility Award for his creation, “Wild boar, apples and beer”.
The winners were announced at a dinner hosted by Topjaw co-founder Jesse Burgess.
