Loughborough College wins Zest Quest Asia

Inspired by the tastes, flavours and textures of Korean food, the Loughborough College team of student chefs bagged first place in the recently held 2025 Zest Quest Asia culinary competition. They also claimed a week-long educational and cultural trip to Hong Kong, compliments of headline sponsor Lee Kum Kee.

Tom Brassington, Lewis McLeman and Cameron McGinty impressed the judges with their three-course Korean bistro-style.  It included a bibimbap main course comprising pork tenderloin, Gochujang fried rice, poached egg and raw Korean sala.

In fact, by the time they were declared this year’s champions at the end of a gala dinner and awards ceremony, the team had already been on stage twice. The trio also received the Murray Chapman Least Wastage Award, while Best Menu Planning went to their tutor, Grace McGreal, herself a finalist five years ago.

'A global scale'
Guest speaker Tom Kerridge told the 200-strong audience: “The teams that did very well did that extra bit of research, that extra deep dive into understanding Asian cuisines and why they work and have so much depth in them.  We now look at food on a global scale and Asian cookery is now recognised as some of the greatest and finest cooking in the world.  I hope you as students have learned a huge amount and take this with you as you continue your food journey and career pathways.”

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