There was a high-stakes, high-pressure atmosphere at the Yacht Club de Monaco in early April as superyacht chefs from around the world faced off in Monaco in contest to see who would be crowned the winner of the 2025 Superyacht Chef Competition.
On 3rd April, the Yacht Club de Monaco was transformed into the dynamic galley of a world-class superyacht as the 2025 edition of the Superyacht Chef Competition, organised in partnership with Moët Hennessy and Bluewater, brought together nine chefs from vessels ranging between 36 and 97 metres in length.
Over a series of challenging timed cooking rounds, the international cohort of chefs were pushed to their limits as the audience, including Monaco Life‘s Niki Borisova, and a stellar jury watched on.
The competition followed the established format of three 40-minute rounds in which chefs had to create a main dish using a surprise basket of ingredients and a well-stocked pantry. The judging of their creations was based on originality, taste, presentation and creativity, with the field being gradually whittled down to a final Top 3.
The final round saw Benjamin Ferrand of M/Y Victoria Del Mar (50m), Gaetan Di Santo of M/Y Ocean One (36m) and Christoph Siebentritt of M/Y Synthesis (74m) tasked with creating a dish that featured kale, blue crab and lionfish.
Ferrand emerged as the winner, telling Monaco Life, “I’m proud to have represented my yacht and my crew. It’s a demanding competition, and to come out on top among such talented chefs is a real honour.”
Other participants included Will Pitt Brooke of M/Y Okto, Edouard Michel of M/Y Alfa G, Richard Broom of M/Y Illusion, Gino Razzano of M/Y Carinthia VII, Camillo Grosso of M/Y Vertige and Francesco Federico Benassi of M/Y Almax.
Jean-François Girardin, a Meilleur Ouvrier de France, chaired the jury, which also featured: Paulo Ucha Longhin, the 2024 winner of the event; Marc Reynolds, Executive Chef at Tottenham Hotspur; Dimitri Droisneau of the three-Michelin-starred La Villa Madie; and Wendy Van Den Schrick, a Moët Hennessy ambassador. The technical jury included Duncan Biggs and Frédéric Ramos, both chefs, with the latter overseeing anti-waste criteria.
Bernard d’Alessandri, Director of the Yacht Club de Monaco, was present for the event and noted, “This competition is a celebration of excellence and versatility in the culinary world of yachting, but I was disappointed not to see any women chefs competing this year. We hope to welcome more female talent in the next edition.”
Check out Monaco Life’s Superyacht Chef Competition reel below:
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Photos by Monaco Life