Will they be flavour of the month or panned by their critics?

Four of the Island's top chefs battle it out at the Fairmont Southampton Princess tomorrow for the title of Bermuda's Best Chef. With all four hungry for victory, this year's competition is really heating up.

The finalists have made the final cut from 16 culinary professionals challenged with preparing a dish based on one of four protein categories — duck, seafood, pork or beef.

Creating an inventive but healthy balanced meal within 25 minutes from Maple Leaf Duck Breast, Foley Fish Georges Banks Scallops, Hormel Pork Tenderloin or Certified Angus Beef Strip Loin certainly gave contestants food for thought.

One finalist, Michael Gomes, incorporated some 40 ingredients into his presentation, complementing duck with brown butter squash, quince compote and spinach-raisin stuffing with cinnamon and juniper.

Tomorrow, however, the competition gets really tough. The chefs will be hoping that is something which does not happen to their beef tenderloin (Certified Angus Beef Filet Mignon Centre Cut) — the main ingredient in the cook-off.

Mr. Gomes joins Rajander Singh Bhandari, Sanjay Leeme and Timothy Palmer in competing for the Escoffier Cup and an all-expenses paid trip to New York City.

Cooking in a specially-designed dual kitchen at the Gourmet Getaway Viking Village, they must impress the judges and audience in taste, presentation, hygiene, complexity and ingredient compatibility. Each has 40 minutes to cook and then five minutes to plate their creations.

The cook-off marks the culmination of the fifth annual Gourmet Getaway, an exciting smorgasbord of delicious food and drink, international chefs and renowned winemakers.

This year's festival offers something for all the family, with a Kids' Village complementing its Viking counterpart.

Blended in with the cooking demonstrations, food and wine tasting, the attractions include an ice sculpting competition plus vegetable carving and cake decorating.

This year's host is Rahman 'Rock' Harper, winner of Gordon Ramsey's FOX TV series 'Hell's Kitchen', while local chef and cookbook author Fred Ming joins Vernon Pemberton and Leo Betschart of the Bermuda Chef Association on the judging panel.

The Escoffier Cup aims to raise standards of culinary excellence and professionalism; to promote camaraderie and educational opportunity among chefs; and to act as a staging area to develop new culinary concepts. It follows international rules and American Culinary Federation guidelines.

Terry Clark of Elbow Beach's Seahorse Grill was last year's winner and the 2008 finalists are all hungry for a taste of victory.

Café Coco sous chef Rajander Singh Bhandari says he is feeling "confident". The 35-year-old from Delhi has 15 years' of experience as a chef, having worked in both India and Dubai. Mr. Bhandari specialises in French cuisine.

"I have never been in a competition like this before, so it's quite exciting," he said. "It is a great atmosphere and I think it will inspire others to become chefs as it really is a celebration of our profession.

"In Bermuda, it is sometimes difficult to get certain ingredients at the right time so I think this makes us more creative. It means you have to work with whatever you have available."

Mr. Bhandari, who cooked scallops with chocolate sauce in his semi-final round, said the best part of being a chef was "making other people happy".

"When people like what I cook it makes me feel proud," he said. "And if I make people happy with a healthy meal, it makes me happy."

His Café Coco colleague Michael Gomes is also confident of winning. The chef-de-partie from Bangladesh is an expert in French cuisine with 13 years' experience in restaurants in Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia.

Mr. Gomes, 30, said: "I think I'm a good chef because I have experience and have a lot of things I can teach to others. To work with a lot of experienced chefs in this competition is very enjoyable."

Sanjay Leeme of the Fairmont Southampton Princess aims to incorporate Oriental and Fusion styles into his final presentation. Mr. Leeme, 34, of Sri Lanka, is a senior chef-de-partie at the Ocean Club.

He specialises in French cuisine and has 16 years' experience as a chef, including time spent in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

Mr. Leeme also reached the Escoffier Cup final in 2005 and so is this year hoping to take the crown.

"To be in the final is great," he said. "I'm feeling confident but wish everyone the best tomorrow.

"This competition enables young chefs to see the different challenges the chefs face and so gain ideas on different ways of cooking. To be a good chef, you can't always be perfect but you need to be learning day to day. Cookery is a never-ending learning process."

Timothy Palmer of the Fairmont Italian restaurant Bacci was yesterday off-Island, but Michael Scott, the hotel's senior executive sous chef, said the 27-year-old was relishing the competition.

"Timothy is one of our most promising chefs. He's young, upbeat, hard-working and passionate, and so is really having a blast with this competition," said Mr. Scott.

Mr. Palmer, of Canada, is a senior chef-de-partie with ten years' experience working in restaurants in Australia and Alberta, Canada. He specialises in fine-dining and his signature dish is sablefish (Alaskan black cod) glazed in maple and soya.

The Escoffier Cup is sponsored by Bermuda Gas, Viking Professional Equipment, Butterfield and Vallis, Supermart, Gosling's, the Total Group, and International Imports.

For more information on the 2008 Gourmet Getaway visit:

www.bermudagourmetgetaway.bm