Roux Scholar Meets R8 at Bristol Audi

Over fifty top chefs from the Bristol area gathered at the Bristol Audi dealership, Cribbs Causeway on Monday (10) October for a day of phenomenal Audi driving experiences and Roux Scholar cookery demonstrations.  

The event was staged to celebrate the partnership between The Chefs’ Forum and Bristol Audi, both sharing the same brand values of excellence in customer service and product.  The Chefs’ Forum demo stage was installed into the dealership for the day to showcase culinary excellence to an audience of professional chefs, local hospitality employers and trainee chefs.

Greeted with delicious Easy Jose coffee and Luscombe Drinks reception, the chefs and front of house professionals enjoyed a morning of test drives of the Audi R8, TT, A3, A4, A5, A6 & A7 models.  For many, it was their first Audi driving/brand experience and a chance to discover revolutionary Audi Technologies encompassing intelligence, design and powerful performance, much like a fine dining experience with a Roux Scholarship winner!

Roux Scholarship Winner 2013, Head Chef Paul O’Neill of Hattusa Restaurant, Berwick Lodge (Bristol), worked with catering students from Weston College and learners from HIT Training to inspire the next generation of young chefs. Paul is currently working with The Chefs’ Forum Academy at Weston College to hone the skills of catering students in a series of masterclasses throughout October 2016.  Today’s event at Bristol Audi put the students’ canapé-making skills into practice, whilst event management and front of house students got real event work experience under their belts as they were mentored led by Berwick Lodge’s owner and front of house management guru, Sarah Arikan.

Level 3 student Georgia White joined The Chefs’ Forum Founder, Catherine Farinha on the demo stage to tell professional chefs, local employers and her peers about her experiences so far as part of The Chefs’ Forum Academy.

“It has been great fun here at Bristol Audi today and it’s really important that we get this amazing industry experience prior to getting a job.  We have worked with Lucknam Park’s chefs doing fish and shellfish, chocolate choux buns and Michelin-starred main courses, now with Paul, we’re learning about menu planning and development with the chance to get one of our dishes onto his menu at Hattusa for a week – I’m really looking forward to joining him in his kitchen for work experience”.

Paul and the students created canapés from the Hattusa menu, then Paul performed expert cookery demonstrations epitomising precision, flawless design and elegance in his cuisine as he created a dish of beurre noisette, poached skate, almonds, cauliflower and smoked bacon.  Paul celebrates the finest local produce in his menu at Hattusa, making it a must-visit dining destination in Bristol.

Bristol Audi then continued the theme of excellence in a show-around of the sublime Audi R8, showcasing it’s truly exceptional features.  Chefs then had to grab their phones and ‘tweet’ @thechefsforum @monmotorsaudi that the origin of the name ‘R8’ came from the Le Mans concept race car for a chance to win some fantastic Audi Merchandise.

Freelance chef Ashley Haskins impressed Bristol Audi Head of Business Steve Smith with his Audi knowledge retention to win an Audi Sport Watch; Sean Horwood of the Centurion Hotel came close second, winning an Audi Sport pen!

Steve commented:

“I was delighted to host The Chefs’ Forum here at the dealership; we have been working with the organisation for five years and look forward to doing so for many more.  It was great to gather chefs and restaurateurs from the Bristol area to collectively boost the profile of local business, whilst giving them the chance to have an Audi driving experience. I was extremely impressed by the professionalism of the learners at Weston College and HIT Training – They produced some excellent food. It was also an honour to have Paul O’Neill, Jay McMillan (Total Produce) and Stewart Williams (Castell Howell) perform cookery demonstrations on The Chefs’ Forum Demo Stage in the showroom!”

Bristol Audi will be offering work experience to Weston College business and event management students. The Chefs’ Forum is proud to feature an Audi Car Display at each of its quarterly events in Bristol to celebrate its partnership with the prestigious Audi brand.

Photography by Andrew Plant: www.andrewplantphotography.com