On June 27th 2024, we proudly celebrated the third anniversary of our award-winning Lex Casual Dining Competition, an event that continues to unveil extraordinary talent and innovative food concepts within our ranks.
This year, 35 teams entered the competition, with only six advancing to the finals to compete for the title of Lexington’s newest food residency. The winning team would also be presented with £1,000 to celebrate.
Only one could emerge victorious — congratulations to Saraca!
Saraca, led by Head Chef at Slaughter and May, Jacqui Fraser, draws inspiration from her Grenadian heritage, offering a culinary journey that embodies the essence of the Spice Island. Featuring an array of spices like nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon, Saraca’s menu transports diners straight to the heart of traditional Grenadian cuisine.
This small plate concept embraces Grenada’s communal dining culture, encouraging diners to savour dishes that resonate with deep cultural significance.
Jacqui, and the rest of the team at Slaughter and May behind Saraca were overjoyed with the result. Jacqui Fraser, said: “We created the Grenadian concept to show who we are as a country and share our cultural identity. Grenada might be a little island, but we have some big flavours! We wanted to translate our presence into food and bring something different to this competition.”
Saraca had some remarkable competitors, which included concepts centred around Modern Baltic cuisine, global flavours with savoury donuts, Bangkok street food, Japanese cuisine made using locally sourced British ingredients, and Spanish pinchos.
The Lexington casual dining competition is a team event, open to all sites across Lexington’s Business & Industry and Lexington Independents divisions. Each team is tasked with creating a new casual dining concept that could be implemented at their site or across the broader business.
Over 150 clients and guests attended the event, sampling the finalists’ food concepts and casting their votes, which accounted for 50% of the final score.
This year included a new element, the inclusion of a concept created by chef students based at New City College, providing them with the opportunity to showcase their culinary skills. Jesal and Razmin combined modern cooking techniques with traditional Indian and Bangladeshi flavours and ingredients to enable customers to experience their culinary heritage.
A special thank you goes out to New City College Hackney and OKN1 Restaurant for participating with their innovative concept, One Bite, Indo-Bengali Street Food.
A prestigious panel of industry experts judged the competition, including:
Matt Wood, Managing Director of Lexington, said; “This competition is a highlight in our calendar as it showcases the extraordinary expertise and creativity that exists at Lexington.
“We have already rolled out 20 casual dining concepts, created by Lexington colleagues, over the last three years. I am so proud of the amazing talent we have within the business, and it is brilliant to be able to provide a platform for this expertise to flourish.”
Jacqui Fraser, development chef for Saraca, said: “We created the Grenadian concept to show who we are as a country and share our cultural identity. Grenada might be a little island, but we have some big flavours! We wanted to translate our presence into food and bring something different to this competition.”
We want to say a special thank you to all the finalists, judges, and everyone who made this event possible.
Congratulations once again to all our finalists for their incredible food concepts and to Saraca for their well-deserved victory!
