He had two hours and 30 minutes to finish two dishes, in a kitchen that is not entirely familiar to him, and with instruments not exactly similar to those he is used to. Oh, and his output had to be better than those made by 49 other aspiring chefs.
It’s not a scene from the latest reality TV-style cooking show on some streaming platform, however. It’s how Yves Gabriel Cabrera Po, or Sevy to his friends, felt at the Young Chef Olympiad (YCO) 2025 held in India earlier this month. A graduating student of Culinary Arts Management at the De La Salle College of St. Benilde, the 22-year-old Sevy won second runner up (or bronze) at the YCO, competing against 49 young, up-and-coming chefs from different parts of the world.
Hailing from Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Sevy is a fan of culinary shows. His favorite is the docu-series “The Final Table” (2018), which he admits was among those that convinced him to take culinary studies. As a local, his favorite is Puerto Princesa’s version of pansit malabon. But being of a Filipino-Chinese descent, his go-to comfort food is dim sum chicken feet.
Organized by the International Institute of Hotel Management (IIHM) in India, the YCO is currently the largest competition for culinary students in the world. The Philippines has been represented by Benilde for several years now, winning first runner up twice in previous seasons—in 2020, with Austin Labago and in 2024 with Clifford Unabia, both of whom were mentored by Chef Sreedevi Kannan.
For this year’s competition, Sevy was chosen to represent Benilde and the Philippines, after a long process of elimination that pitted him against two of his fellow students. He went to India on Jan. 31 with his coach and mentor, Chef Dean Gabriel Ng Tio, a part-time faculty at Benilde (and himself a graduate of the college). YCO had two parts, which started on Feb. 8 with the elimination round where only 10 of the 50 participating culinary students qualified for a final “cook-off,” so to speak.
It took Sevy, working with other chefs from Benilde, about three months to prepare for YCO. This included crafting and refining the dish. “We had to practice the two-and-a-half hours of cooking time for the actual competition,” says Sevy. Each time, the results were critiqued by Chef Dean, as well as by Benilde faculty and pastry chef Richmond Ingco and by Chef Margarita Isabel Marty, who is the current program chair for the school’s culinary track.
“They gave me real-life, problem situations that I might encounter in the actual competition,” Sevy tells me after a shoot with their school’s media team in the pastry lab at the Angelo King International Center. Some of these, he said, actually happened in the contest. In fact, Chef Gab adds, Sevy had a buzzer beater finish during the qualifying rounds, fully consuming the allotted two hours and 30 minutes.
“During practice, he would finish with 15 to 20 minutes left,” Chef Gab explains. But not so during the contest, which added to the pressure they felt. It didn’t help that the criteria for the competition was quite stringent.
“Even the way you cut the carrots, for example, had to be perfect,” Sevy describes. “It’s part of what they judge in terms of technique. It isn’t just about the taste or the presentation. It’s also how you use the ingredients”—ingredients that were provided from a list given prior to the actual competition days. It is a rather telling point, one that highlights just how competitive YCO is.
This is why, as a mentor to Sevy, Chef Gab emphasized the importance of maintaining the right mindset and a healthy mental state. “As a mentor, I always assure [Sevy] that I trust whatever his decisions would be during the competition.”
With sustainability as the theme of this year’s YCO, Sevy’s main dish for the qualifying rounds held in Hyderabad was a vegetarian Lentil Puff, Carrot Puree with a Tomato and Turnip Relish topped with a Coffee Vinaigrette. For the choux pastry dessert, he made an Eclair with Pumpkin and Tofu Mousse with Lemon Basil Curd topped with Candied Almonds. These were enough to get Sevy to the top 10 spot.
For the finals held in Kolkata, his dishes were, for the main course, a Bhetki Paupiette filled with Shrimp Mousse topped with a Parsley Crust paired with Walnut and Date Risotto, Pickled Carrots, and Green Grapes, Plum Sauce, and Garnished with Crispy Fish Skin; and for dessert was a Chocolate Food for the Gods paired with a Lemon Ganache Quenelle, Walnut Crumble, and Passionfruit Compote.
Of these, Sevy says, his personal favorite was the latter because of the technique involved in preparing it. “But as a foodie, my favorite is the vegetarian Lentil Puff,” he adds, saying that its flavors are a mix of the savory and the fruity, which match how crispy the dish was.
Now on his last term at Benilde, Sevy is currently doing his internship at Toyo Eatery, where he has earned the praise of Chef Jordy Navarra for winning at the YCO. “I see myself working at Toyo after my studies,” Sevy says, adding that while his duties are more in the “hot kitchen” and not with pastries, he does not want to be comfortable with just one task. Incidentally, Jordy is Sevy’s local chef idol.
“I want to be able to do everything,” Sevy explains. “Maybe after five years of sacrifice and sleepless nights, I want to be able to put up my own restaurant. Because of this, I have to know everything, how a kitchen works. I want my mind to be well-trained, to show that I can be creative.”