A Whole Lamb and a $12,000 Prize Pool: How the Chef Battle Went at World Nomad Kitchen in Kyrchyn
The large-scale Chef Battle culinary championship, held as part of the World Nomad Kitchen festival, has come to an end in Kyrchyn Gorge. It was an exciting spectacle: 14 chefs from different countries came to Kyrgyzstan to prove that ancient nomadic recipes can look and taste modern.
MBANK was the general sponsor of this gastronomic celebration.
The Road to the Final: Liver, Trout and the “Black Box”
The championship consisted of three challenging stages, where chefs had to showcase their own interpretation of nomadic cuisine:
- Qualifying round: participants prepared dishes using liver.
- Semifinal: the “Black Box” challenge — chefs received a secret ingredient, trout, and had to instantly come up with a dish concept.
- Grand Final: a battle between the five strongest chefs. The task was to prepare a whole lamb carcass over an open fire using a modern presentation.
The jury evaluated everything: from the main criterion — taste — to cleanliness at the workstation, professionalism and creativity.
Winners and Prize Pool
The total prize pool amounted to $12,000. The top chefs took the following places:
1st place ($5,000): Adilbish Gongorjav (Mongolia). He became the absolute champion, impressing the judges with his mastery of cooking meat over an open fire.
2nd place ($2,500): Said Roshchaev (Kazakhstan). Said presented flawless kuyrdak and beshbarmak in an ethnic style.
3rd place ($1,000 each): Erjan Kelesh (Türkiye) and Feyruz Dadashev (Azerbaijan). These chefs shared the honorable third place.
The fifth finalist was Yulduz Ergasheva from Uzbekistan.
Special Nominations — $500 Each
The organizers also recognized chefs who stood out in individual categories:
“Culinary Mastery and Technique” — Akbar Asylbekov (Kyrgyzstan).
“Best Preparation and Cleanliness” — Yulduz Ergasheva (Uzbekistan).
“Professional Spirit” — Timofey Kobetyak (Russia).
“Best Presentation and Modern Plating” — Taron Aghababyan (Armenia).
“Culinary Innovation and Originality” — Batyr Khandurdyyev (Turkmenistan).
While the chefs competed for the title of the best, thousands of festival guests enjoyed the atmosphere in Kyrchyn. General sponsor MBANK made sure that the lack of internet in the mountains did not interfere with their experience.
Convenient digital payments via the MPay service were available throughout the festival grounds. Thanks to this technology, guests could instantly pay for food and souvenirs at the ethno-bazaar — payments work even without an internet connection.
For MBANK, supporting World Nomad Kitchen was an important step in promoting national values.
MBANK — the first digital. Made in Kyrgyzstan!
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