Vilanova chef Eric Montes wins the Catalan EYCA final

On 3 November, the Catalan final of the European Young Chef Award (EYCA), an international competition organised by the International Institute of Gastronomy, Culture, Arts and Tourism (IGCAT), was held at the Hotel-School of Sant Pol de Mar.

The young chef Eric Montes , aged nineteen, was the winner with an innovative dish of Pota Blava PGI chicken with prawns from Vilanova, his home town. The chicken with Norway lobster presented by Clara de Miguel, a student at EUHT StPOL, came second. The podium was completed by the version of cuttlefish "a la bruta" presented by Genís Santos, a student at Joviat, and La Mascarada, a recipe created by Jordi Solé, a student at CETT.

Winning the Catalan final was Eric's passport to represent Catalonia at this year's EYCA, held on 23 and 24 November in Braga (Minho, Portugal), which was European Region of Gastronomy in 2016. 

Norway's Espen Laumann won this fifth edition of the international competition, supported by Prodeca and theCatalan Tourist Board as a commitment to innovating within culinary tradition and promoting sustainability and the use of local products in the kitchens of future chefs.