8^th October, 2008
Scotland’s best pizza makers head for UK championship final

Three of Scotland’s top pizza chefs will be heading for London in November in a bid to show the rest of the UK how it should be done.
The three – Darren Smith, Domenico Crolla and Mauricio Da Rocha – were all winners in the Glasgow semi-final of this year’s national Pizza Designer of the Year Award and will face stiff competition when they reach the final on November 13 with at least 12 other competitors for the title.
In order to get into the final, each competitor had to come up with a creative new pizza concept but with the caveat that it had to be commercially viable – that means it should not be so wacky that it would never sell. Six entrants competed in the Scottish heat at New Concept Test Kitchen, Glasgow Road on October 7th, and the three finally made it through in a tough competition.

Darren Smith from Battlefield Restaurant, Glasgow. His creation, in the Tulip Super Tops section of the competition, was a pizza with Super Tops beef topping, black olive and rosemary pate, caramelised red onion, parmesan cheese and chicken.
All three finalists will now travel to London where they will battle it out with the winners of the other regional heats for the coveted title – Pizza Designer of the Year 2008.   The final takes place at the Royal Lancaster in London on November 13 as part of the national Pizza Pasta & Italian Food Industry Awards.
Further information is available on the PAPA website at www.papa.org.uk