Our Penang Junior Chefs Club general committee took the swearing-in ceremony! In line with our commitment toward our profession, the newly elected general committee plead their loyalty and dedication towards their Association led by Chef Audee Cheah recently during a swearing-in ceremony dinner hosted by Chef Darren Tan at Sweet Cherry Thai Restaurant.
With less than 2 weeks to go, the excitment is building for what will be another excellent HOFEX event. Keep your eyes on WACS Junior as we will be posting LIVE from Hong Kong Convention Centre from 6-9 May 2009.
22 April 2009
Association of Malaysia over all champions at the first
Asian Junior Chef Challenge in Jakarta.
From left –Bong Weng Chuan, Syamsul Bahari, Goh Sok Siong, Malcom with Zubir Zain
Malaysian Junior Team walked away with gold medal and overall champion in recent Asian Junior Chef Challenge category in Indonesian Salon Culinaire, held in Jakarta from 15th-18th.April 2009.The young team represented by Bong Weng Chuan, Syamsul Bahari, Goh Sok Sion Malcom and led by Zubir Zain as team leader.
In this competition the team, cooks and served a 3 course set menu within 2 hours using some fresh vegetables and dairy products from a mystery box. According to team leader, Chef Zubir Zain, the team has undergone several training session prior to the competition and this sweet achievement has proven all the hard work were paid off!!!
The Junior team, will like to thank the committee of the Saloon Culinaire in Jakarta and especially the president chef Vindex, and Chef Eduard Betez for the hospitality at the Borobudur Hotel and all the help provide .
We will like also to congratulate the Singapore Junior team, placed at the second place and our sister Penang Chefs Association Malaysian chapter that brought back the Third place and the over all best Junior Chef with two silver medal Chef : Fong Chung Yew.
Article contributed courtesy of:
Federico Michieletto President Chefs Association Of Malaysia
18 April 2009
Quick Update:
Congratulations to the K.L Team, they are the overall winner at the First Junior Asian Chef Challenge.
With only two weeks to go before the first ever Junior Asian Chef Challenge takes place in Jakarta at the Food and Hotel Indonesia 2009 as part of the 7th Indonesian Salon Culinaire, the teams are lining up for a hot cooking competition that will be long remembered.
" We have reached our final stage of the preparation of the event, great news on the Junior Asian Chef Challenge, we had already 16 teams including 1 from Singapore Chef Association, 1 from Malaysia Chef Association, 2 teams from Penang, 1 from Bali and the rest are from several schools and establishment from Jakarta.
Chef Otto will be our Chief Judge and several others judges from overseas such as Marco from Thailand, Heinz Kohler from Phuket, Tony Khoo, Kenny Kong from Singapore and several others also the from our fellow partners BCP (Bali)."
WACS Junior wishes all competitors good luck and good cooking, and as Chef Otto always says, "Don't do anything too fancy, just keep it simple but make sure it tastes good."
15 March 2009
The 12th Penang International Salon Gastronomique : Battle Of The Chefs
The Young Chef Club Indonesia Jakarta Chapter is ready to lunnch into 2009
WACS Junior congradulates the YCCI for making a reality of their dream to form their own club in Jakarta.
This coming Jan 29, 2009, they will announce the Committee during their Monthly Association meeting and follow by that in February they will make the Inauguration (Probably the second week).
"We just finalizing the Logo and all the necessary legal requirement of the club. We will call the Club: YCCI (Young Chef Club Indonesia Jakarta Chapter)" saidVindex Valentino Tengker
"The contact person for this club is Mr Oqke Prawira, He is one of the seniors who are expert in the Educational sectors, He is one of the Food Production Lecturer at our STP Trisakti (One of the Institute of Hotel and Tourism in Jakarta). He will be incharge as the advisor to the Club."
"Our first task will be to prepare teams for our Junior Asian Chef Challenge which will be coming soon in April 16, 2009 in conjunction of Food Hotel Indonesia (15-18 April 2009). We will send official invitation to all the team in Asia and hope we all can be there to support these event."
“What’s radical about us rests not on what we serve, but on how and where. In the West, where the problem of hunger has been solved, where obesity is now the issue, the trend has to be more and more about the pleasure of eating, the fun, rather than seeing it as simply a way of satisfying our appetites. At El Bulli we try and take this idea to the nth degree”
Ferran Adrià has been described as the best chef on the planet. His restaurant, elBulli, was voted the World’s Best Restaurant for the fourth time this year. It receives over one million reservation requests a year, where only 8 000 lucky ones get a table.
Yet, should one even call him a chef? Or a scientist? Or an artist? A meal – or rather, the experience, lasts for hours, alternating between flavours, temperatures, the surreal and the homely. Fried rabbit ears, for instance, translucently thin and tasting like pork rinds; a frozen gin with hot lemon fizz; spaghetti not topped with Parmesan but fashioned from it; soft-boiled quail egg with a crispy caramel crust; carrots turned into foam, artichokes into puree, and foie gras into ice cream.
Slip the reservation list and meet Ferran Adrià at Design Indaba Conference from 25 to 27 February 2009.
The British Culinary Federation held its annual Young Chef of the Year competition on 17 November, at University College Birmingham. This highly prestigious event, now in its 11th year, was sponsored by Electrolux Professional and supported by Villeroy & Boch, attracting more entries than ever before.
After the paper judging part of the competition, 16 young chefs were selected to compete in a two hour cook off over two heats. Each competitor had to produce a 3-course meal for two persons, which included a starter using sea bass, a main course using any cut of British beef and a dessert using apples.
Competitors were marked by a panel of distinguished judges led by Kevin Viner (Chairman of Judges), Eric Bruce, Lee Corke and Marcus Eaves with kitchen invigilator, John Peart. The criteria for judging included working methods, professional techniques, culinary skills, hygiene practices, timing, quality and balance of textures and flavours, as well as the presentation of the finished dishes.
After much deliberating, the judges were all unanimous on their placing of the top three competitors.
British Culinary Federation Young Chef of the Year
Currently working under the tutelage of senior chefs in the kitchens of the Westin Kuala Lumpur, the commis chef creatively juxtaposed the vibrant hues of his ingredients with their subtle flavours to create a palate pleasing palette of colour and flavours that earned him the coveted award and a RM6,000.00 cash prize.
Ling began with a poached duck breast wrapped in spinach, prawn ravioli, a vegetable stew and zucchini puree which segued into a cream of mushroom soup with garlic espuma and herb croutons.
His main course consisted of perfectly roasted beef that was complemented by glazed asparagus, gratinated potatoes, beef juice and black pepper foam and the meal ended on a bouquet of flavours that were produced from a melange of warm chocolate cake with raspberry ice cream, apple compote and almond florentine.
The kitchens of Westin Kuala Lumpur also produced the first runner-up in the competition with another commis chef, Syamsul Bahari bin Horme. He received a cash prize of RM3,000.00 while the 2nd runner-up, Amir bin Hamzah, from Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur took home RM1,000.00 in cash. All the 26 participants who made it to the final stage of the competition took home a certificate of participation endorsed by the Malaysian Association of Hotels and Chefs Association of Malaysia.
“The Golden Chef Hat Award is one of the most prestigious culinary awards in Malaysia and winning it has really given me a boost of confidence in terms of my career and I’m glad I did not disappoint all the chefs who had been coaching me,” said Ling.
“I knew that the other top young chefs had amazing and inspiring dishes as well but I told myself that all that mattered would be to produce all the 4 courses in the way that I wanted it to be as we had identical ingredients to create our menus,” he said.
Ling said he knew he wanted to be a chef from the time he started helping his great grandmother in the kitchen cutting vegetables.
“I love the aroma of the various ingredients when they are cooked together and experimenting with new ingredients from all parts of the world,” added the excited young chef.
Hong Kong International Culinary Classic (HKICC) 2009 exhibits in conjunction with HOFEX 2009 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre runs from 6th – 9th May 2009. This four-day culinary competition, co-organised by The Hong Kong Chefs Associations (HKCA), is targeted at international culinary talents to demonstrate their superb culinary expertise and skills.
In addition to welcoming some leading chefs and industrial professional experts to the organising team this year, HKICC will also invited an international reach of highly-respected chefs and culinary experts to preside over the judging of HKICC 2009.
This year, the competition is made up of 7 main categories ranging from Western Cuisine, Chinese Cuisine, Ice Carving, Pastry, Live Bakery Competition, Live Pastry Competition (NEW), and the Gourmet Team Challenge - each catered to the increasingly sophisticated needs of the food, drinks and hospitality industries.
HKICC is now inviting young and talented chefs from restaurants, clubs, hotels and catering institutions to participate at this international culinary competition. The last edition in 2007 was fully subscribed with over 580 entries. Act immediately to secure you and/or your colleague a placement in this exciting event before it is fully booked.
Holistic training for pastry chefs helps southern youth
Cake-making
HAMBANTOTA – When five students from a hotel school jointly run by Don-Bosco and the Chef’s Guild of Sri Lanka presented themselves for an interview at a hotel in Sigiriya, their ‘immaculate’ behaviour – even before the interview – impressed the manager so much that they were hired on the spot.
“The manager was impressed by what he saw as they waited to be called that he hired them without spending much time on an interview,” Don Bosco’s Bro. Gabriel told The Sunday Times FT.
The Don-Bosco Chef’s Guild of Lanka Institute of Hospitality and Catering at Hambantota imparts much more than just hoteliering and catering. The courses have a holistic training module which includes human and moral values, cleanliness and behaviour, Bro Gabriel said.
The hotel school, which also has a small hotel with 7-8 chalets on the beach as a training ground for the students, accommodates about 30 in a batch. It was started soon after the tsunami to help youth in the area learn some skill. The Chef’s Guild runs a bakery and pastry course at a fully automated bakery at the centre. English is also taught to the students.
The students are all Buddhists and the school liaises with the local temple in selecting entrants. According to W. Sayakkara, Pastry/Bakery Chef cum Instructor, most of the students from the previous two batches have got jobs in top hotels in Colombo and elsewhere. The hotel school is concentrating a lot of bakery and pastry courses due to demand for pastry chefs in New Zealand and Australia, he told the newspaper during a recent visit to the centre.
Deeganage Gamini de Silva, 31, who has worked in a hotel in Ambalantota, says he joined the course to learn pastry making and baking as he wants to go to Australia. Nadeeka Ranjani, 21, also wants to go abroad and sees the hotel school as a step in that direction. In the case of Imesha Nadeeshani, 17, the hotel school hopes to set up pastry outlets in the town and elsewhere and plan to give her an opportunity to run one of them.
This Photo is of the Junior Team from Ireland taken right after receiving their Silver Medal at the 2008 Culinary Olympics.Pictured with them are their coaches, the Chairman of the WACS Education Committee John Clancy and WACS President Gissur Gudmundsson. Sorry for the late posting and congratulations to you all again.
A 22-year-old Bridgend chef marked his competition debut by cooking his way to the coveted Young Welsh Chef of the Year title and in the process secured a dream trip to compete in Chile. Joseph Jones, chef de partie at The Great House Hotel, Bridgend, clinched the double reward by beating five other talented young chefs from across Wales at the inaugural Welsh Chefs Conference in Cardiff.
" He said he had chosen the menu because of the quality Welsh ingredients and nice flavours and was satisfied with the finished dishes. "I was very happy with the taste of the dishes and everything went according to plan," he added "We knew how good the Elwy Welsh Lamb was and we gave it even more flavour by smoking it ourselves," he explained. "With the dessert, I wanted to finish off with an outstanding chocolate dessert.
" In the final, held at Glamorgan Cricket’s SWALEC Stadium, Jones edged out five rivals, Johnathon Goodman from Ruthin Castle, Ruthin, Tom Middleton from Hotel Maes y Neuadd, Talsarnau, Harlech, Phil Clarke from the Armless Dragon Restaurant, Cardiff, David Szanto from The Chandlery Restaurant, Newport and Andrew Sheridan from The Groes Inn Hotel, Conwy. They each had to cook their own creative menu of a three course dinner for four, using Welsh Lamb, Welsh Beef or pork and a selection of True Taste award winning products.
Jones, who received his award from Deputy Skills Minister John Griffiths at a presentation dinner last night (Wednesday), will represent Wales at the World Skills competition to be held at the World Association of Chefs’ Societies’ Conference in Chile in January, 2010. Chairman of judges, Graham Tinsley, manager of the Welsh National Culinary Team, said Jones was a deserved winner because of the consistency of his three dishes. "The judges had good comments about each of the chefs and it was a well fought battle, but they were unanimous in making Joseph the winner," he added. "It’s pleasing to see that there are some promising junior chefs coming through in Wales." The competition and conference, organised by the Welsh Culinary Association, are sponsored by the Welsh Assembly Government to promote the food and drink industry brand ’True Taste’, Hybu Cig Cymru/ Meat Promotion Wales, the Applied Ability Awards, Skills Competition Wales and Tourism Training for Wales. Winner Joseph Jones with the Young Welsh Chef of theYear trophy.
Come August 2011, South Africa will once again play host to the most incredible global culinary event of a lifetime -
The "World Cooks Tour for Hunger 2011".
This amazing event will take place throughout South Africa from 21st-30th August 2011 and will see more than 200 international and local Chefs come together to raise more than ZAR 2 million (South African Rand) helping the poor and the underprivileged to receive a warm meal and more.
Today begins a series of articles in which we will reveal the personal experiences of Chefs who have had the privilege of attending the World Cooks Tour for Hunger in South Africa. We begin with my own reflections from the first day of the 2003 World Cooks Tour for Hunger.
Day 1.15th August 2003 As a great many of the chefs had arrived a day or two earlier it was decided that we would stage a march protesting against Hunger through the centre of the infamous township of Alexandria finishing at the Police station Lock Up where we would feed some 200 local homeless and disadvantaged children the only warm meal that they were going to get that day and possibly the next.
"2.5 Million children in South Africa will go hungry today and tomorrow there will be more."
So there we were, about 80 International and local Chefs, looking grand in our white starched jackets and tall hats, standing on the pothole studded streets of Alex. Accompanied by three Police vehicles and a local Fire Brigade complete with a large red Fire Engine, sirens blaring and flashing lights, we felt assured that we were not going to go unnoticed. The slip of dirt on either side of the tarred road that passed for a sidewalk was overflowing with raggedy dressed, barefooted children with more and more faces cramming into small uncovered windows and doorways of rusty coloured corrugated shacks and run down, virtually falling down government erected housing of the apartheid era.
With banners and flags unfurled and our hearts filled with great pride, a little fear and much anxiety, the chefs of the World marched shoulder to shoulder as one, united in thought and purpose hoping to make but a little difference in the otherwise bleak existence of a hungry Child's life.
At the Police station the atmosphere was a biz with the excited chatter of children, all of them wanting to have their photo taken with these white clad strangers from far off places. Children singing and dancing waiting patiently as the time built up to when the food would be served. Lining up in a seemingly endless queue that snaked its way around the otherwise colourless compound and back again. With their faces filled with joy knowing that today something good was going to happen, today they were going to eat for sure but more than that they might get a souvenir pin or a flag or even a chefs hat or jacket that they could show and tell their friends and extended families and neighbours about that evening and possibly for days to come.
Then there were the children that stood quietly with their small mostly dirty hands clutching onto a still empty plate, some of them with knees trembling from hunger, smiled sheepishly as they slowly chewed a mouthful of fresh bread trying to make each bite last longer than the one before until it was their turn at last to stand before the enormous pots of food and receive their portion of Spaghetti and Meat Balls in Tomato sauce over Mashed Potatoes along with a choice of orange or lime cordial. For those children, their movements were focused and careful, walking slowly selecting a quiet place to sit away from the crowd a place where they could find peace and take much needed nourishment and comfort from a warm plate of food knowing that at least for today they were safe from the endless stabbing pain of hunger.
Thus began my incredible life changing 10-day journey into the heart of the South African "World Cooks Tour For Hunger 2003."
Congratulations to the Singapore Junior Chefs Club leading the world in hosting yet another excellent competition event. After 4 years of successful and continual growth, the Tabasco HoT Chef Team Challenge is now set to go regional.
This year for the first time the winning team from Hong Kong joined the Singapore event for the cook off piting their skills against the best of the Singapore Teams. With the Singapore team coming out on top a great day of learning and friendship was had by all setting the stage for bigger billing for the future. From all of us at WACS Junior well done Young Chefs!
Dear chefs, colleagues, friends and presidents of national Chefs associations,
Please allow me to invite you all to come and take part in Asia’s 1st Culinary Cup that will be hold in Bangkok from the 1st – 5th of September 2009 at the Siam Paragon right in the center of Bangkok.
We have opened our website since a few days, and would like you to have a look on all the competitions that we are offering and hopefully will be able to welcome you in the Land of smile next year.
We will however continue to inform you of any developments, which will occur over the next 300 days when the Contest will officially open.
International Chef’s Day 2008 was celebrated in Singapore quite differently as compared to previous years. Instead of visiting homes for the elderly and cooking for them, chefs from the Singapore Chef’s Association(SCA) invited more than 100 youths from Andrew & Grace Home, Northlight and Care Corner Family Services Center Woodlands to learn the ways of the chef at At-Sunrice Global Chef Academy. The objective of the chefs was twofold: to teach the young participants how to cook delicious and nutritional food and inspire them to enter the chef profession. “We wanted to share our skills with the underprivileged kids, and teach them that eating well may not be an expensive affair. With the right culinary skills, such as how to handle meats or cut vegetables the right way, they can be empowered to whip up a delicious, healthy meal at home anytime at a low cost.” Eric Teo, president of SCA.
The day began in the early afternoon at At-Sunrice, where, after a short introduction, the kids aged 12 to 17 were taken for a tour of the spice gardens surrounding the academy. After a returning to the academy and taking a short break — a break punctuated by the laughter of the kids as they donned their chef garb — the kids were divided into three teams and brought into the kitchens to see the instructors in actions.
It would be an understatement to say: “It was then the participants’ turn to cook”, for the aroma wafting through the air as each kitchen was a bustle of activity was unbelievably mouth-watering.
In the words of Bridget Hootan, a participant from Andrew & Grace Home who had previously attended other cooking classes, International Chef’s Day 2008 was “a new experience because the first cooking class we attended they spoon-fed us everything. So now at least we get to walk around and understand different aspects of cooking.”
“I think it was a very good event and there was very good response. I think bringing all those kids from those various schools to the academy today was a very meaningful event to do and I think they will leave with great memories and hopefully give them some interests about what cuisines and food is all about and to understand the importance of good nutrition and food knowledge which today has the tendency to be forgotten,” said Christophe Megel, chief executive officer of At-Sunrice.
The day ended with a communal dinner at At-Sunrice, where the kids dined with their new friends, the chefs.