Saturday, March 29, 2008
The Straits Times
20 October 2007
Hard slog, but student chefs show their chops
IT WAS a cold Saturday two weeks ago for culinary student Wang Shih Wei. In the recesses of the Gordon Grill's butchery room, he could not stop shivering as he carefully filleted a giant 7kg French duck.
The 20-year-old is one of the six Shatec students handpicked to work with Michelin-starred chefs in Goodwood Park Hotel's Michelin-Star Guest Chefs Festival, which started more than a week ago.
The attachment - shivering included - was part of an agreement between the hospitality school and the hotel, the first time local culinary students were specially hired to assist such culinary cognoscenti.
"The six students were selected based on their strong academic performance, their high degree of professionalism, culinary skills and most importantly, their passion for the culinary arts," said Dr Horst Fuetterer, deputy director of Shatec's College of the Culinary Arts.
The six student chefs started work at the beginning of the month, before the chefs flew in, familiarising themselves with ingredients specially flown in from France and Britain, such as rabbit and wild mushrooms.
So far, the students have worked with chefs Michel Roux and Davy Tissot, and will be working with chefs Jason Atherton and Jean-Andre Charial at the hotel's restaurant, Gordon Grill. The festival ends on Nov 7.
Work has been gruelling.
Every day from 7am to 11pm, they have been feverishly chopping vegetables, deboning lamb and lugging heavy pots of stock in a hot and bustling kitchen, with only one two-hour break every day.
But the dedicated youngsters say they don't mind the hard work and long hours, and have even voluntarily stayed back sometimes to help the midnight shift prepare food for the next day.
"It's definitely very tiring, but the whole experience is just so great. I have no regrets at all. There's a lot to learn and I'm expanding my skills to meet the chefs' standards," said Mr Wang.
The students have found working with the chefs inspiring, particularly the three-starred Mr Roux.
"He's very organised, how he calls for orders and controls the kitchen. In the future, maybe I can become as good as he is," said 17-year-old Victoria Samara.
While Mr Roux was unavailable for comment, Gordon Grill's executive chef, Mr Phillipe Egalon, said that the students had been "fantastic".
"They have performed very well, which is to be expected as they are top students," he said.
Article by Tessa Wong
Reference : http://www.asiaone.com/Business/Office/Hot+Jobs/Story/A1Story20071029-32842.html
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