For the past few weeks, I've been indulging myself in a fine dining spree. I know this sounds crazy...but it's true, I've been dining at world class restaurants that had cost me a fortune. First it was Claude's, which was an utter disappointment....then I went to Quay, which by the way is the best restaurant ever....and then Pier, but I didn't really pay for that one. What is it with fine dining restaurants and one-syllabled names anyway?? Does it make it more....elegant???? Or classy??? Whatever...
Before this, I've never even been to any fine dining restaurants before....and in just less than a month, I've already visited 3 of the most renowned restaurants in Sydney. And on next Monday, I'm dining in at another fine dining place called Burlington. This is a cheaper option of fine dining...and I heard the food is great.
You know what the funny thing is?? All these fine dining experience has kinda made me a food snob. I wouldn't eat anything that taste anything less than good. I wouldn't even enjoy mediocre food anymore.
Before, I would eat absolutely anything, whether it taste good or bad...just as long as it fills me up and is something that I would normally eat.
Before, I would gobble up a piece of well-done steak...but now, I wouldn't even consider touching a piece of steak that is cooked more than a medium doneness.
Before, I wouldn't be able to detect the flaws of a dish, but now, I begin to compliment or criticize a dish that I'm served in a restaurant.
Before, I wouldn't care if a dish was bland or salty...but now, I wouldn't even consider eating anything that taste bland coz it's absolutely disgusting.
Before, I wouldn't even bother tasting any food that is new to me...but now, I would taste absolutely ANYTHING that you would call "food."
And finally, I used to always go back to the same ol' restaurants and order the same ol' dish....but now, I try new restaurants all the time and I would order different dishes.
Bottom line is, I have a new perspective on food now...and I'm so glad that I've finally discovered the wonders and awesomeness of food. I just cannot believe how I used to ignore what I eat and I was totally clueless about food and cooking. Sometimes I wonder what made me change my perspective...and when I attempt to trace back my steps...and I ended up with Gordon Ramsay.
I'm sure all of you know that I used to be a huge fan of Gordon Ramsay's. Did you realize that I said "used to"? Well, I'm no longer a big fan of his...coz I've got a new role model now...and I call him Ross the Boss. But I will never ever forget that sometime around a year ago, I saw this food show on TV, becoz my housemate so happened to be watching it...it was called "Kitchen Nightmares" featuring Gordon Ramsay. After watching that episode on TV, I immediately you-tubed every other episodes of it and I was HOOKED. I was sooo amazed that food can be so exciting. I was sooo surprised that cooking can be soooo interestiing.
As the days go by, I kept youtube-ing Gordon Ramsay's other shows such as Hell's Kitchen and The F Word. First, I was obsessed with the guy....but after than I began obsessing with the food and cooking. I even experimented some of his recipes at home and I began to develop this passion for food and cooking.
That was when I decided that I wanna be a chef...and that there's nothing in the world that could stop me from achieving this new found passion of mine.
It's funny how a seed is planted in people...and how fast it grows into a tree. Ladies and gentlemen.....I, VERON HAS GROWN INTO A TREE!! Haha...Yes I'm a big fat tree!! I have only 5 more weeks to go, and I'll be officially finished with my culinary course. And GUESS WHAT ppl!!!
I am going to be the HEAD CHEF of my college's restaurant next Wednesday and I'm soooo freakin' excited.
You must be wondering why I was picked to be the Head Chef next week? Especially since I'm one of the weak links in my class. Well...the answer is, I didn't get picked. I volunteered. LOL. Well I did and I'm glad I did. I paid almost $10,000 for this course and I'm gonna make sure I get the most out of it. And if I'm given an opportunity to be the head chef...I have to take it. I'll be an idiot if I don't. Am I right??
I'm really excited and nervous at the same time about this....coz I haven't really been a leader since I was in high school. That's 5 years without any leadership practice. I wonder if I still got it. Deep inside, I know that I'm capable...but I do have my doubts. I guess this is gonna be a real test for my leadership and organization skills....and if I ace this, I know I'm gonna be alright in the future. And if I don't, then I'll know what I gotta work on in order to be better. It's a win/win.
Anyway, I think I'm gonna stop here. Have a nice time, ppl. Cheers.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Restaurant Duty
I know it's been a while, guys! I'm really sorry for the lack of posts...I've just been busy lately and a lot has happened and is still happening in my recent culinary life. Most of you would have known that I've started my Superior course 3 weeks ago...and I've got restaurant duty every Wednesday of the week. If you don't already know, I've actually been cooking for real customers since 2 weeks ago...and it is also my very first time cooking for paying customers. It's definitely a major milestone for me...even though I'm only cooking in a training restaurant.
Last week, I was allocated to the main course section, along with Sally and Roberto. Main course is one of the busiest and most important section in the kitchen. The menu of our restaurant for that week was...
Pretty exciting menu, right? We actually had to make everything from scratch...except for the breads, coz the yeast needs to rest overnight in order to work properly. So we made the ravioli, soup, sauces, desserts and every other thing from scratch. It's nothing new really...I mean...even in normal practical classes, we still had to make everything from scratch.
So anyway...I was in charge of the fish. I had to fillet the fish, cook it, plate it and serve it. It was pretty awesome. I wish I had a picture to show you guys...but I didn't manage to take a picture of the dish coz I was too busy serving it. The first week of restaurant was kinda messy...coz it was the first time that we're actually working in a team environment..and some of us never had any experience working in a real life restaurant kitchen setting...so service was a little chaotic. However, we managed to get by without Chef Marcus yelling at us like Gordon Ramsay on Hell's Kitchen...so I guess it was still alright. And that was last week's restaurant experience.
Yesterday, we had restaurant duty again...and the menu was the same as last week's. However, our roles have been swapped around. This time, I was put in the dessert section. Oh freakin' hell...I HATE DESSERTS!! I hate makin' em, I hate eating em, and I sure as hell don't enjoy working on em. I'd rather de-bone 100 fat chickens rather than making desserts. But what the hell right?? Every chef has to know a li'l somethin' bout desserts...so I took up the challenge. Because Chef Marcus lets us know our roster in advance, therefore I had time to do some research on the menu. For some reason, I took up this task without much complaints...I just dealt with it...and I even contributed a couple of wacky ideas in regards to the presentation of the dish. I even spent a fair amount of time on the night before googling on the desserts we had to make and see if there's anything that I can use for garnish and decorations.
On that very morning, I entered class with a confident mind full of creative ideas on the dessert dishes. I was really proud of myself...coz I managed to come up with ideas on something that I don't really enjoy doing. I came up with the idea of "Chocolate dipped strawberries" for garnish...and I'm glad Chef liked the idea. As much as I hated doing desserts, for some reason, I still managed to enjoy myself. LOL...I guess it's becoz making desserts is so relaxing and I kinda find it therapeutic. It's like the only time where I don't need to take my knives out of my toolbox and start chopping vegetables like crazy. All I had to do was just playing around and mixing flour, eggs, sugar, milk, cream, chocolates, etc. To be honest, it's kinda fun. LOL...SsssHhhhh....Don't tell anyone!!
I was in charge of making the chocolate ice cream for the profiteroles....and it was really awesome! I love making ice-creams...and I definitely love eating them. I guess ice-cream is the only exception to my hatred for sweets and desserts. The ice-cream that I made had the "gelato" texture...and I was really proud of it. I don't care what others say...but I made the best chocolate ice-cream ever!! Lol...I'm starting to sound like a chef taking pride for the dishes I made. Anyway...I have some pictures of the desserts that we made.
This is called Profiteroles...I took this picture from Google images. I forgot to take a picture of the profiteroles that I made. But this is how it looks like anyway.
But this one is the real picture of the Chiboust. That was how we presented our Chiboust...and the musical notes decorations was NOT my idea! I REPEAT...it is NOT my idea! It's my chef's idea and I thought it was really lame...and I didn't really appreciate it! Sorry, chef marcus!
Anyway..we had a really quiet service yesterday...coz we only had 15 customers. And only 8 of em ordered desserts. It was quite boring...and I slacked around a lot. But next week...I'll be doing the "Entrees" and we have a whole new menu. This time, the menu is more of a challenge to produce...and I think we're gonna struggle a lot next week. You might think I'm crazy, but this is how I like it. I like challenges...I like struggles...and I like stress. Why?? Because if I manage to overcome the challenge, struggle or stress...I would feel the satisfaction that beats the hell out of any types of gratification. I guess this is just how I get my rush...some ppl resort to drugs...alcohol...sex...etc. But for me...it's the overcoming of a challenge that gives me the rush...that keeps my adrenaline pumping!! Thus, I'm definitely gonna enjoy next week's restaurant duty coz it's gonna be TOUGHER than a piece of well done meat.
BTW...the restaurant is called "Ambassador Restaurant" and it's located in TAFE Ryde. It's a training restaurant...so all the cooks in the kitchen are students...but there's always a qualified Chef/teacher overseeing the kitchen operations. If anyone who is in Sydney that is interested in visiting the restaurant...just google "Ambassador Restaurant" and you will find the contact details from the search results. REMEMBER...I'm only cooking in the kitchen every WEDNESDAY lunch. The other days are done by other classes....which is obviously not as great as my class! LOL....Whoever's from SC4 and SC5 is gonna kill me if they read this.
Here are some of the other pictures of dishes that I made in class. Enjoy looking at it....don't drool over your keyboard...hehe. CHEERS!
Last week, I was allocated to the main course section, along with Sally and Roberto. Main course is one of the busiest and most important section in the kitchen. The menu of our restaurant for that week was...
Pretty exciting menu, right? We actually had to make everything from scratch...except for the breads, coz the yeast needs to rest overnight in order to work properly. So we made the ravioli, soup, sauces, desserts and every other thing from scratch. It's nothing new really...I mean...even in normal practical classes, we still had to make everything from scratch.
So anyway...I was in charge of the fish. I had to fillet the fish, cook it, plate it and serve it. It was pretty awesome. I wish I had a picture to show you guys...but I didn't manage to take a picture of the dish coz I was too busy serving it. The first week of restaurant was kinda messy...coz it was the first time that we're actually working in a team environment..and some of us never had any experience working in a real life restaurant kitchen setting...so service was a little chaotic. However, we managed to get by without Chef Marcus yelling at us like Gordon Ramsay on Hell's Kitchen...so I guess it was still alright. And that was last week's restaurant experience.
Yesterday, we had restaurant duty again...and the menu was the same as last week's. However, our roles have been swapped around. This time, I was put in the dessert section. Oh freakin' hell...I HATE DESSERTS!! I hate makin' em, I hate eating em, and I sure as hell don't enjoy working on em. I'd rather de-bone 100 fat chickens rather than making desserts. But what the hell right?? Every chef has to know a li'l somethin' bout desserts...so I took up the challenge. Because Chef Marcus lets us know our roster in advance, therefore I had time to do some research on the menu. For some reason, I took up this task without much complaints...I just dealt with it...and I even contributed a couple of wacky ideas in regards to the presentation of the dish. I even spent a fair amount of time on the night before googling on the desserts we had to make and see if there's anything that I can use for garnish and decorations.
On that very morning, I entered class with a confident mind full of creative ideas on the dessert dishes. I was really proud of myself...coz I managed to come up with ideas on something that I don't really enjoy doing. I came up with the idea of "Chocolate dipped strawberries" for garnish...and I'm glad Chef liked the idea. As much as I hated doing desserts, for some reason, I still managed to enjoy myself. LOL...I guess it's becoz making desserts is so relaxing and I kinda find it therapeutic. It's like the only time where I don't need to take my knives out of my toolbox and start chopping vegetables like crazy. All I had to do was just playing around and mixing flour, eggs, sugar, milk, cream, chocolates, etc. To be honest, it's kinda fun. LOL...SsssHhhhh....Don't tell anyone!!
I was in charge of making the chocolate ice cream for the profiteroles....and it was really awesome! I love making ice-creams...and I definitely love eating them. I guess ice-cream is the only exception to my hatred for sweets and desserts. The ice-cream that I made had the "gelato" texture...and I was really proud of it. I don't care what others say...but I made the best chocolate ice-cream ever!! Lol...I'm starting to sound like a chef taking pride for the dishes I made. Anyway...I have some pictures of the desserts that we made.
Anyway..we had a really quiet service yesterday...coz we only had 15 customers. And only 8 of em ordered desserts. It was quite boring...and I slacked around a lot. But next week...I'll be doing the "Entrees" and we have a whole new menu. This time, the menu is more of a challenge to produce...and I think we're gonna struggle a lot next week. You might think I'm crazy, but this is how I like it. I like challenges...I like struggles...and I like stress. Why?? Because if I manage to overcome the challenge, struggle or stress...I would feel the satisfaction that beats the hell out of any types of gratification. I guess this is just how I get my rush...some ppl resort to drugs...alcohol...sex...etc. But for me...it's the overcoming of a challenge that gives me the rush...that keeps my adrenaline pumping!! Thus, I'm definitely gonna enjoy next week's restaurant duty coz it's gonna be TOUGHER than a piece of well done meat.
BTW...the restaurant is called "Ambassador Restaurant" and it's located in TAFE Ryde. It's a training restaurant...so all the cooks in the kitchen are students...but there's always a qualified Chef/teacher overseeing the kitchen operations. If anyone who is in Sydney that is interested in visiting the restaurant...just google "Ambassador Restaurant" and you will find the contact details from the search results. REMEMBER...I'm only cooking in the kitchen every WEDNESDAY lunch. The other days are done by other classes....which is obviously not as great as my class! LOL....Whoever's from SC4 and SC5 is gonna kill me if they read this.
Here are some of the other pictures of dishes that I made in class. Enjoy looking at it....don't drool over your keyboard...hehe. CHEERS!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)