Tallink Silja Line’s best chefs of 2025 work on the Baltic Princess and the best bartender at the Tallink City Hotel
Foto: tallink.ee | Autors: tallink.ee | 2025.12.16
The Tallink Group’s best chefs of 2025 were announced at the Maitsev Eesti festival held at Kultuurikatel in Tallinn over the weekend. The title Tallink Silja Line Chef of the Year 2025 was awarded to Antti Asikainen and Jussi Verronen who work on the cruise ship Baltic Princess, which sails between Finland and Sweden. At the same time, the group’s best bartender was selected, Evgenii Romanov from the Tallink City Hotel won the title.
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A total of seven teams of two participated in the chefs’ competition, six of which represented ships – Baltic Princess, Silja Serenade, Silja Symphony, Tallink Shuttle, Baltic Queen and Victoria I – and one representing the Thai restaurant Nok Nok, which also belongs to the Tallink Group.
The participants had to prepare a three-course menu with mandatory components and also submit a recipe for a hot dish for the ship’s restaurant Fast Lane. The competition was held in cooperation with the Estonian Chefs Association, and the dishes prepared in front of the audience were evaluated by a high-level international jury.
The title of Tallink Silja Line Chef of the Year 2025 was awarded to the team from the Baltic Princess cruise ship, which sails between Turku and Stockholm. This was already the second time the chefs from Baltic Princess had won the title. “For us, this competition is a great opportunity to prepare and experience something completely different from our everyday work,” said Antti Asikainen and Jussi Verronen, members of the winning team. In order to succeed in such a competitive environment, under the watchful eye of the judges and the audience, the men believe it is important to stay relaxed and enjoy every moment. “If you enjoy what you do and use all your professional skills, victory will come,” they added.
Asikainen and Verronen considered the main course to be the most difficult dish in the competition – a dish that had to include whole corn and parsnips as mandatory ingredients and be served with three side dishes and a sauce. “The challenge was to use all the raw ingredients without leaving anything behind, as well as to harmonize the flavors and create a functional whole,” said the winners of the main prize.
Second place went to the team of chefs from the Silja Symphony, consisting of Chunye Zhao and Rick Eklund Holtegaard, and third place went to the Victoria I chefs Alina Nikitiuk and Evelin Reimann.
The competition was judged by an international jury consisting of two kitchen judges, Urpo Reinthal and Juhan Heinsalu, and six taste judges: Ida Bauhn (Sweden), Thomas Riis (Denmark), Katja Tuomainen (Finland), Justinas Kapkovičius (Lithuania), and Hugo Komp (Estonia, winner of Young Chef of the Year 2024). The jury was led by renowned chef Ivan Derizemlja, who represented Estonia at last year’s Bocuse d’Or cooking competition.
According to Ivan Derizemlja, the head judge of the competition, the dishes created by the Baltic Princess chefs stood out for their appearance and color combinations, but it was the taste that won the day. “The dishes were balanced, well-seasoned, and the raw ingredients of the main components were honored. The tasks were also completed successfully from a technical point of view, and creativity and trendiness were evident,” said the head judge. “The entire menu was consistently well executed and noteworthy, but if I had to choose just one favorite, it would be the dessert. It was a strong finish to the menu, the components were well matched, well seasoned, and pleasant to eat in terms of texture,” added Ivan Derizemlja.
Starting in mid-February, the three-course winning menu from the chefs’ competition will be available in the à la carte restaurants on all Tallink Silja Line ships.
The group’s best chefs were selected for the third time as part of the “Tasty Estonia” festival. The winning team of the Tallink Silja Line chef competition will travel to the Bocuse d’Or Europe competition in Marseille, France.
Tallink Silja Line’s best bartender was selected for the second time. There were eight participants in this competition, which took place in two rounds – first, an aperitif cocktail made from ingredients available in every ship and hotel bar, and second, a cocktail for which the bartenders had to find ingredients at the Maitsev Eesti fair. First place went to Evgenii Romanov, who works as a bartender at the Tallink City Hotel, second place went to Alina Suvinõmm from the cruise ship Victoria I, and third place went to Kaja Tamm from MyStar.
The best bartenders were selected by a three-member jury led by Vyacheslav Ilichev, Vice President of the Estonian Bartenders Association. The jury also included Vladislav Maksimenko (Estonia) and Torbjörn Liljehammar (Finland).