Filipino pastry chef Gerard Apurado of Naya Mayfair wins Forty Under 40 UK culinary award

Gerard Apurado, head pastry chef at Naya Mayfair in London, was named the Hospitality (Culinary Excellence) winner at the Forty Under 40 UK Awards 2026, at a ceremony held on 8 November at the Hilton London Paddington.

Filipino pastry chef Gerard Apurado, head pastry chef at Naya Mayfair in London, has been named the Hospitality (Culinary Excellence) winner at the Forty Under 40 UK Awards 2026, The Global Filipino Magazine (TGFM) reported on 11 November. The official 2026 winners list names him, with Naya Mayfair, under that category.

The award, now in its fourth edition, honours emerging leaders under the age of 40, according to TGFM. This year's ceremony was held on 8 November at the Hilton London Paddington.

Career

Apurado told TGFM that hearing his name called "felt surreal". He traced the start of his path to San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, and La Consolacion College Bacolod, where he first discovered cake decorating as a Hospitality Management student.

His first job was as a Commis 3 at Plantation Bay in 2014, and he was named Supervisor of the Year at the Cebu Tourism and Hospitality Awards in 2022, TGFM reported. When Plantation Bay closed during the pandemic and many of his colleagues were furloughed, he and his team turned the resort's pastry kitchen into a takeaway business, a move that allowed some of them to return to work.

After nearly ten years in the industry and a Head Pastry Chef title in Cebu, Apurado moved to London in 2023. He worked as a new product development pastry chef at an award-winning bakery, took part-time shifts at restaurants and bakeries such as SAM's Waterside to learn the market, and paid out of his own pocket for further training at Le Cordon Bleu London, La Cuisine Paris and Cremeria Opera, a gelateria in Lucca, Italy. In April 2026, he became head pastry chef at Naya Mayfair.

In his words

Apurado said that since then, the team had launched new products and refined the range, which had helped grow pastry sales. He added:

I think the judges saw both the craft and the journey behind it.

He dedicated the award to his late grandmother, whom he called his biggest supporter, and extended the dedication to his family and to his teams in Cebu and London. For young Filipino chefs dreaming of working abroad, he urged them not to be afraid to start again from the bottom and never to stop learning.

As I said in my acceptance speech, the moment you think you’re already too good is the moment you stop learning. Stay humble, keep improving your skills and don’t hide where you come from. Our work ethic is our strength, and where you start doesn’t decide how far you can go.

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