The Master Chef Series by Crew Skills International enable students of the culinary school to train with the best and the second session of the monthly series featuring Portuguese cuisine by Chef Joao Melo was held from April 9 to 10.
“As part of our culinary training, we occasionally invite visiting master chefs to spend two days with us teaching and demonstrating their national cuisine and on the second day, we present a lunch prepared by our students under the supervision and guidance of the master chef serving the dishes he or she has taught,” Garry Prior, Director of Crew Skills explained.
“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for the students to learn from master chefs of different countries. We want the students to also learn how to prepare dishes for guests thus we have invitees in to emulate the pressure of cooking in a real life scenario,” Suresh Subramaniam, Managing Director and CEO of Crew Skills highlighted.
As part of the World Chefs Advanced Diploma programme, there are 13 master chefs in total who will be providing tutelage to the students.
Ipoh Echo had an exclusive one-on-one with the amiable Chef Joao Melo hailing from the coastal Cascais, Portugal.
He has been residing permanently in Malaysia for five years and running two restaurants in Kuala Lumpur, Bakar and Bella, as head chef for both kitchens. Bakar is a modern grill place while Bella is a semi-casual spot serving home cooked Italian food. This was his first time in Ipoh.
“It is very rewarding when you pass your knowledge to someone else and let them shine. That is the true meaning of being a chef. For instance, when I see someone from my kitchen team create a new recipe and people are happy with it,” the 35-year-old photographer-turned-chef with over 10 years of culinary experience, enthused.
“I’m super satisfied with the students’ performance today and I think what Crew Skills is doing here is really important as the biggest challenge we have in the Malaysia F&B industry is to find qualified and experienced people to work in our kitchens,” Chef Joao said.
Last year, Crew Skills International was awarded a global citation, as a recognised quality culinary education provider by the World Association of Chefs Societies (Worldchefs).
This makes it a first for Perak and the fourth in Malaysia, thus putting Crew Skills International on the map and ranking it with institutions such as Taylor’s, Sunway, Berjaya and KDU.
“We are not a mass production factory. We are a professional chef training institute where our class size is very small (one chef to seven students ratio) to ensure the students are really learning. That is our objective,” Suresh added.
Interested readers can contact the culinary school with the following details:
Address: No. 9, Lintasan Perajurit 17G, Taman Perdagangan dan Perindustrian, 31400 Ipoh. Phone: (605)545 9800; (605) 549 2846 Email: info@crewskills.edu.my Web: www.crewskills.edu.myMei Kuan
