Le Cordon Bleu Paris Scholarship 2026: A final full of talent!

Finalists, Chefs and judges of the Le Cordon Bleu Paris Scholarship 2026

On 19 October, Le Cordon Bleu Paris institute hosted the grand finale of its 2026 Scholarship competition. After several preliminary rounds, twelve finalists came together for one last challenge, full of enthusiasm and determination to showcase their skills!

During the earlier stages, they had already shown great strength of character and a strong understanding of Le Cordon Bleu. Now it was time to head to the kitchen for two challenges: preparing mushroom risotto and making a choux pastry. Both tasks gave the finalists the chance to demonstrate their techniques, creativity and organisational skills.

Chefs meeting the participants of the Le Cordon Bleu Paris Scholarship

A finalist cooking during the Le Cordon Bleu Paris Scholarship final

The standard was extremely impressive! The dishes were beautifully presented, the candidates were focused and the competition was incredibly close. Our judges certainly had their work cut out for them!

For the final, we were delighted to bring together a judging panel with different perspectives, comprising Chef Éric Briffard, Head of Le Cordon Bleu Paris institute; Chef Fabrice Danniel, Vice Director and Head of Pastry and Boulangerie; Chanel Houel, Grand Diplôme® Le Cordon Bleu student; Chef Bao Feiyue, from Le Flandrin restaurant; and Sophie Menut-Yovanovitch, Editorial Director of Cuisine & Vins de France. A big thank you to each of them for sharing their expertise, time and insights with our finalists!

The finalists of the Le Cordon Bleu Paris Scholarship 2026

After careful deliberation, Quynh Nga NGUYEN was named winner of the 2026 scholarship! Breno ALLEVATO came second, followed by Victoria PADILHA in third place.

Huge congratulations to our three winners, and a big well done to all twelve finalists for their hard work, creativity and enthusiasm throughout the competition!

Second place: Breno Allevato with Chef Éric Briffard

Winner of the Le Cordon Bleu Paris Scholarship 2026

This year’s edition was also made possible with the support of our five partners: Coravin, La Brigade de Buyer, Larousse Éditions, L’Or des Prés and Cuisine & Vins de France. We would like to thank them all for their confidence in us and commitment, as well as all the teams involved in making this final a success.

A wonderful day of gastronomy and meaningful connections, bringing several months of competition to a close. Congratulations to all the participants! We wish you every success in your future endeavours!