News Archives - Page 44 of 123

Valrhona Matfer Bourgeat Chocolate Entremet Challenge was a Huge Success

On Friday 12^th March, Jamie Houghton Pastry Sous Chef at Oxfordshire’s Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons and Glen Sharman (Sous Chef at Le Manoir) joined forces with The Chefs’ Forum to present a Continuing Professional Development masterclass which served to update and reinforce skills of professional chefs and chef lecturers.

Jamie Houghton has just been announced this week as President of the UK Pastry Team, which is a truly excellent achievement and will see him lead his team to the Coup du Monde de la Patisserie set to take place from Friday 24^th to Saturday 25^th September 2021.

The Valrhona Chocolate CPD event was kindly sponsored by Valrhona, in partnership with Mitchell & Cooper, the UK home of the fabulous Matfer Bourgeat pastry and chocolate equipment for the professional kitchen.

Benoit Blin, Chef Patissier at Le Manoir was delighted that Jamie and Glen were leading the session, he said

“It was with great confidence that I left the Valrhona chocolate masterclass delegates in the very capable hands of my two sous chefs, Jamie and Glen – They both carry bags of knowledge and are great teachers!

In what is still a difficult year for most of us, the participating chefs and chef lecturers really seemed to enjoy the session!”

Jamie and Glen took the delegates through a chocolate tasting to explore the unique profiles, flavour notes and variety of uses across a range of Valrhona chocolates. They then went on to develop a contemporary chocolate and raspberry entremet, using Valrhona’s Manjari chocolate and cake rings supplied by Matfer Bourgeat SHOP THE RANGE HERE!

This event was highly interactive, educational, inspirational and great fun.

Neil Rippington, Educational Director at The Chefs’ Forum hosted the event on Zoom. Neil actually taught Jamie as a student at The Colchester Institute and was delighted to work with him on this.

He said

“Jamie was always an outstanding student and he has now become an excellent pastry chef and chocolatier, now heading-up the UK Pastry Team as President and working at one of the most iconic 2 Michelin-starred properties in the country. It is a huge sense of satisfaction to follow the journey of these young chefs as they climb the ranks of their craft. Jamie did a fantastic job of leading the session with Glen today, demonstrating the entremets and showing what to do with the leftovers to make Gluten Free desert options or afternoon tea.”

Jamie added

“It was great to see so many chef lecturers from various colleges and other chefs from leading kitchens all over the country.

I am overjoyed at being nominated as President of the UK Pastry Team and this event was a great way to celebrate the official announcement yesterday.”

With great presentations from Marie Gonnon, Brand Manager UK & Northern Europe Valrhona, Guillaume Perez, Area Sales Manager, UK, Ireland and Spain at Matfer Bourgeat and Kat Cooper, Director of Mitchell & Cooper, what better way to learn about market leading chocolate, pastry tools and equipment and network and learn new techniques from masters of their craft while lockdown measures are still in place?

The delegates comprised top UK pastry chefs and pastry chef lecturers. All produced a delicious chocolate and raspberry entremet, comprising a chocolate crumble, chocolate sponge, chocolate mousse, raspberry jelly and an imaginative chocolate collar.

The event showcased the fantastic benefits of partnerships between leading industry brands and what great learning opportunities can be developed when like-minded people get together to create something quite simple, executed very, very well indeed.

Mitchell & Cooper, home of Matfer Bourgeat in the UK extends a huge thank you to Marie Gonnon, Brand Manager UK and Europe, Valrhona and Guillaume Perez, UK Sales Manager, Matfer Bourgeat, for their fantastic support in developing and organising the event.

The Chefs’ Forum would also like to thank Jamie and Glen alongside the support of Benoit Blin and the staff at Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons. To align such talented pâtissiers with chocolate from single harvests of cocoa from the world’s best plantations, together with tools and equipment of the highest quality was, without doubt, a recipe for optimum success.

Delegates for this unique and interactive event received all the specialist ingredients and equipment required to fully participate in the event and produce a replica of Jamie and Glen’s masterpiece. This included:

Valrhona chocolate samples for the tutored tasting:

Dulcey
Raspberry Inspiration
Jivara
Manjari
Coeur de Guanaja

For the live cook along:

Recipe card with extra ingredients to purchase
Acetate strip for the chocolate band
300g Manjari Chocolate
10cm and 12cm Matfer Bourgeat cake rings

In addition to a bumper pack of Mitchell & Cooper goodies including:

Matfer Bourgeat Elvéo spatula
Mitchell & Cooper Catalogue
Bonzer barware jigger and tasting spoons
Alongside a range of other surprise goodies!

Jamie will also be awarding a special prize to the winner of the best entremets of the day – Stay tuned for the stunning results to be showcased on our socials.

To see Jamie and Glen’s entremets recipe and have a go yourself, visit our recipe page here.

Cyrus Todiwala Announces Zest Quest Asia Tilda Challenge Finalists

(London, 10th March) Twelve students from ten colleges across the UK will be advancing to the next stage of the Zest Quest Asia Tilda Challenge, the virtual spin-off to Zest Quest Asia, the national student culinary competition founded by restaurateurs, Cyrus and Pervin Todiwala, with the Master Chefs of Great Britain.

Launched in January 2021 and sponsored by Tilda Foodservice, the Zest Quest Asia Tilda Challenge attracted more than 90 entries from over two dozen colleges. So high was the calibre of submissions that the judges — the Todiwalas, chefs Murray Chapman and Steve Munkley, as well as Jo Witchell of Tilda Foodservice – made the decision to double the number of finalists from the originally planned six to 12. A total of seven cuisines were represented in the beautifully assembled, often complex dishes created by the finalists — Japanese, Indian, Chinese, Indonesian, Filipino, Korean, and Thai.

Students going forward to the Zest Quest Asia Tilda Challenge finals are: Graciela Baltazar (Bridgwater & Taunton), Joe Cooper (Sheffield), Josh Davies (North Hertfordshire), Luke Harker (West Suffolk College), Oliver Herrington (Sheffield), Jodie McKenna (South Lanarkshire), Sara Szmit (Grimsby Institute), Parichat Tachadee (Cambridge Regional), Brannon Underwood (Loughborough), Julia Willis (New College Durham), Killoran Wills (University College Birmingham), and Todd Woolston (North Hertfordshire).

Cyrus Todiwala said, ‘I would like to congratulate all of our Zest Quest Asia Tilda Challenge finalists. To those who didn’t make it this time, never give up as there will be many other opportunities for you to showcase your talent and ambition. We are proud of you all and it really was a challenge for the judges amid so many spectacular efforts. I want to thank Chef Sey Millington in particular for undertaking the heroic task of helping us to collate all 92 entries from 27 colleges.

‘In terms of the entries themselves, I am delighted that so many students were committed to researching the origins of their dishes and were striving for both creativity and authenticity. We’ve come a long way since we launched Zest Quest Asia with the aim of raising the profile of Asian cookery as a career for aspiring student chefs. Personally, it is deeply rewarding to see budding chefs from so many colleges in the UK start to unearth and embrace the mysteries and challenges of Asian cookery and cuisine. That their tutors continue to take a keen interest in this subject area bodes well for the future of catering education.’

Annette Coggins, Head of Foodservice, Tilda UK said, ‘Inspiring student chefs has always been a passion of Tilda’s. To see so many well thought out entries following the tutorials has been fantastic to see. We are so glad that despite the challenges of the past year, the spirit and determination of the next generation of chefs has not been diminished. We’re excited for the final and to see how our finalists can show us their exploration of all the wonderful possibilities of Tilda rice and Asian cuisine!’

The finalists will now compete at a live, on-line cook-off to be held in the kitchens of their respective colleges on 31^st March 2021.

Jamie Houghton Announced as the President of the UK Pastry Team at The Pastry World Cup

PASTRY WORLD CUP POSTPONEMENT – NEW DATES 24th & 25th of September 2021 in Lyon.

Due to the current health situation that the world is still facing over a year now, the organization of Sirha Lyon has decided to reschedule the 2021 edition of the show that will be held from Thursday 23rd to Monday 27th September, in Eurexpo Lyon (France). Consequently, the Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie will take place from Friday 24th to Saturday 25th September 2021.

The Bocuse d’Or competition will be held straight after on Sunday 26th and Monday 27th of September.

2020 was obviously marked by the COVID-19 crisis. The organizers as well as the competitors were forced to adapt the selection rules to local health constraints and event cancellations. While the European continental selection was the only one to be held in January 2020 in Paris, all the other selections were made on points and based on the podiums of 2018.

The 20 teams now qualified for the 2021 Pastry World Cup are ALGERIA, ARGENTINA, BRAZIL, CHILE, CHINA, EGYPT, FRANCE, ITALY, JAPAN, KUWAIT, MALAYSIA, MEXICO, MOROCCO, RUSSIA, SINGAPORE, SOUTH KOREA, SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND, TAIWAN and UK.

Chaired by Pierre Hermé with the help of Claire Heitzler and Frédéric Cassel (Vice – President) and managed by an entirely renewed International Organization Committee, the Pastry World Cup created more than 30 years ago is an unmissable event that celebrates excellence, passion and the transmission of know-how between generation while at the same time it encourages innovation.

UK TEAM 2021

TEAM PRESIDENT – Jamie HOUGHTON – Pastry Sous Chef at Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’saisons

Chef Houghton is a creative and talented pastry chef with many accolades, including having captained the UK team at the Pastry World Cup in 2019. The team were placed 5th overall and he won the Best Sugar Display Cup. Working at high levels of quality in a supervisory role, including 7 years at 2 Michelin star level, he always works to the best of his ability. He is a determined and committed worker who is eager to extend his knowledge and aptitudes. He considers his teamwork skills and practical skills to be particular strengths.

He has also participated in several pastry competitions in UK and in France. The Annual Awards of Excellence in 2014, the UK Junior Sugar Championships (he achieved first place) in 2014, and the Stéphane Glacier National trophies of Sugar Art in 2015 where he took third place.

SUGAR CATEGORY – Nicolas HOUCHET – Deputy Head of Pastry at Le Cordon Bleu, London

Born in Nancy, France, Pastry chef for 22 years, he studied pâtisserie for 5 years as an apprentice at Restaurant Hammerer where he trained under an award-winning mentor, Jean Claude Hammerer (Pastry Chef of the year 2000). After working in 5-star hotel, Chef Nicolas travelled to England where he set up his own pâtisserie: Macaron – that won the TimeOut Best London Pâtisserie 2006. He has been teaching at LCB London since 2010 and has been candidate in competitions in the UK Pastry Open in 2017 and 2020, selected as reserve sugar candidate for the Pastry World Cup in 2019.

CHOCOLATE CATEGORY – Michael, HO LAM KWAN – Head Pastry Chef at Hotel Café Royal, London

Michael Kwan has over 14 years of experience in the industry. He started his career as an apprentice in Hong Kong where he also earned his Diploma in Hotel Culinary Management. After working at Island Shangri-La Hong Kong, he moved to London to pursue his passion. He started to work at Ladurée, after which he accumulated experiences working at various Michelin starred restaurants, including The Fat Duck and Hakkasan, and is currently the Head Pastry Chef at the five-star Hotel Cafe Royal in London. Michael is meticulous and smart with his methods, detailed oriented and ingenious with his pastry creations.

Michael has taken parts in numerous completions and proven himself on the world stage. He represented the UK team in the Coupe du Monde de la Patisserie in 2019 as the president while the team finished 5th and won the Best Sugar Piece. Also, he won the UK Sugar Championship 2019.

ICE CATEGORY and TEAM CAPTAIN – Chris SEDDON – Executive Pastry Chef at Qoot co.

Chris has worked for a number of London’s high-class hotels, including the likes of Claridges, the Savoy and the Connaught.

Experiences working with talented pastry chefs, pulling all the pieces together whilst adding his own touch have allowed him to go on to head the pastry operations at Coutt Bank, Yauatcha and Dominique Ansel.

He was also part of the UK Pastry team in 2019 that reached 5th place in the world at the Pastry World Cup which was the UK’s highest finishing position, with the ice piece he carved placed 2nd.

Credit photo: Jodi Hinds

The Chefs’ Forum has Been Awarded a Silver Industry Excellence Partnership Award by The Manchester College

The awards recognise and accredit employer partners for their commitment to the work-readiness of young people studying at The Manchester College.

Speaking about the award Employment Engagement Leader Hilary Orr said:

“With The Chefs Forum being such a valued partner of the college and in recognition of your ongoing support I would like to award you with the Silver Award.”

Catherine Farinha, Founder of The Chefs’ Forum, said:

“We are delighted and truly honoured to have been awarded a Silver Industry Excellence Award by The Manchester College. The Manchester College is one of five UK Colleges running The Chefs’ Forum Academy. This sees top industry professionals and esteemed chefs teach the students at the college or virtually of late.

We can’t wait to send chefs into the college once more and are very much looking forward to staging a virtual open day for local feeder schools (albeit virtually) on the 11^th May.”

The Chefs’ Forum wholly supports The Manchester College with curriculum enrichment and employer engagement and will continue to promote it as one of the country’s leading colleges for hospitality and catering.

Any chefs or front of house professionals from Manchester and surrounds, who would like to enquire about joining The Chefs’ Forum Academy and forging links with the college should contact rebecca@redcherry.uk.com

Asian Restaurant Owners Network Takes Third Annual ARON Awards Show Virtual

The awards place an emphasis on transparency by recognising eateries with #GenuineMerit, something they reinforce with winners that are chosen by mystery shopping the establishments.

9th March, 2021 – A year later than originally planned, the Asian Restaurant Owners Network held their 3rd Annual ARON Awards Show on March 8th, this =me as a virtual event. The ARON team cancelled the original venue last March due to the pandemic, but felt it was important to hold the event virtually to keep businesses informed of industry trends and highlight some of what the hospitality industry has endured and accomplished in the last year.

For many restaurants, the last year has been extremely tough. Business owners were forced by the pandemic to navigate uncharted waters with no real end in sight. The ARON Awards gave restaurants an opportunity to shine and be recognised for their achievements during the difficult year. As always, the entrants were judged through ARON’s uniquely transparent process of mystery shopping the establishments. According to the ARON MD Rehan Uddin, ‘I place genuine merit achievements at the forefront of the process.’

Unlike other awards which require payment for entry, the ARON Awards is completely free, ensuring ‘a fair and equal platform to support and inspire the future of the industry.’

Restaurants and takeout businesses from across the country entered the awards. Each of the 11 categories were narrowed down to the final three choices in each area. During the live online awards show, members of the network listened as winners shared stories of their successes and the contributions that they made to their local communities in the last year.

Tambapanni, a Sri Lankan street food eatery that dramatically reduced their carbon footprint, went on to win the WOW (Works of Wonder) award and received a £500 ARON eco-grant to help further their work and encourage others.

Rational AG, the world leaders in combi oven technology, picked up the Asian Tech Style award for their commitment to kitchen technology. The company’s iCombi Pro oven is widely regarded as the future of tandoori cooking. During the awards ceremony, they shared a video that showcased the entire tandoori cooking process, which normally takes between 15 to 20 minutes, completed in under 6 minutes. Attendees described it as “a true revolution for Asian Hospitality.”

In addition, Ranie Sirah, Head Chef and owner of, Jah Jyot was the night’s double champion, taking home both the Rising Star award and the Best Street Food award.

The winners included: Best Restaurant – Spice Valley Norwich; Best Chef – Taj Tandoori Cambridge; Best Events Caterer – Blue Lotus Inspirations London; Best Concept – Thakers Houslow; Rising Star – Ranie Sirah’s Jah Jyot Leeds; Most Inspirational – Garima Poddar Birmingham; Best Takeaway – Home Curries Lincoln; Asian Tech Style – Rational AG; Best Customer Service – Horsham Tandoori; Best Street Food – Ranie Sirah’s Jah Jyot Leeds

The entire award show can be viewed on the Asian Restaurant Owners Network Facebook page. Communities are encouraged to show support for the winners by following them on social media and patronising the eateries as they push forward to improve on their already high standards.

Buy Local Think Global Theme for Third Pork from Wales Week

Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales’ third consecutive Porc from Wales Week has been successful in raising the profile of Welsh reared Porc.

Under the theme ‘Buy Local. Think Global’ the week-long campaign partnered with leading chefs and influencers to create a range of internationally inspired pork dishes. This is the third time that HCC has run the campaign to encourage shoppers to purchase local pork from Wales.

Leading Welsh restauranteur and food critic, Simon Wright was brought on board as an ambassador and produced an exclusive Porc Belly Cubano recipe for the campaign. In addition to the Cuban-inspired dish, other food bloggers contributed to the ‘Buy Local. Think Global’ campaign by producing exclusive recipes inspired by international cuisine, such as a Chinese inspired Porc Bao Bun, Korean inspired Porc Bulgogi and Caribbean inspired Porc medallions.

HCC’s Market Development Officer, Kirstie Jones, explained ‘International-inspired food has grown in popularity over the last few years and in this campaign we looked to create a range of exciting recipes which fuse together global cuisines with delicious and high quality Porc from Wales.’

‘In addition to working with chefs and foodie influencers, we also worked with pork producers and butchers who also came together over Porc from Wales Week to share their favourite cuts and recipes on social media.’

Wayne Hayward of Puff Pigs, based near Mountain Ash in south Wales, sells high quality pork in the south Wales area and commented ‘As pork producers ourselves, we are passionate about providing high quality, traceable, local pork to shoppers. It’s great to see locally reared pork from Wales being given the platform it deserves through Porc from Wales Week.’

Further information about pork from Wales, recipes and where to purchase can be found at www.porcblasus.cymru

Pubs in Uproar Over Planning for Marquees & Temporary Shelters

Pubs across the country are fearing that local councils will sting them for outdoor planning permission in the build up to the end of lockdown in April.

From April 12 pubs and outlets can offer a takeaway menu and customers can sit outside but some places have been asked to pay for planning permission to put up marquees and temporary shelters.

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick urged councils to cut the red tape to help the struggling pubs industry, which supports 900,000 jobs. He told The Mail on Sunday: “We’re all looking forward to seeing pubs, cafes and restaurants open again. I’m determined we don’t let red tape get in the way of a great British summer.”

Mel Green, manager of the Black Bull pub in Otley, North Yorkshire is afraid she will have to stay shut until May following a bill for £234. This was for permission for a temporary shelter in her beer garden although the structure consists of just plastic sheeting over the top of old beer barrels. Leeds City Council officials declared permission was needed because The Black Bull is situated in a conservation area.

“It’s just another thing on the list of things to deal with,” Mel told The Mail on Sunday: “Surely you can’t get more in keeping with the conservation of an old pub than beer barrels? I wouldn’t know where to start with planning permission, I’m a publican.”

Georgette Way, landlady of the Cheltenham Motor Club real ale bar, revealed she faces a £600 bill to put up a wooden pagoda covering four tables in her car park. At the same time, pubs and restaurants in Central London are receiving £100 bills following a Westminster Council decision to force businesses to re-apply for pavement licences.

Greg Mulholland, of the Campaign for Pubs, said: “Landlords are tearing their hair out.

“They can’t understand why they are being forced to fill out forms and jump through these ridiculous hoops at a time when they are facing oblivion.”

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UK Hospitality, called for a suspension of red tape. “We urge councils to have a bit of common sense and take a pragmatic view to relax the rules,” she said. “We need to get the economy moving and we can’t afford to let needless red tape get in the way.”

If a solution can be found to all this, we can recommend these brilliant pop-up Eco bars from Global Vending solutions.

CEO Joseph Burke said

“I do hope the government comes to the rescue and supports the pub sector as it prepares to reopen. We’ve been working hard with our development team to ensure we’re ahead of the curve for 2021. In fact, we’ve road tested our latest outdoor hybrid bars in 2020 with 6 David Lloyd Clubs around the country. The feedback was excellent from both the client and David Lloyd club members alike.

We’re excited to work on future projects with our global clients and bring your ideas to life.

Our latest ‘Eco Bar’ requires zero power – it has a 24-hour ice bank and can be located in any part of your venue. This is unique to us and is available now. We ship globally and fast.”

For more information on eco bars and other outdoor drinks vending solutions visit www.globalvendingsolutions.com

Fred Sirieix at Wormwood Scrubs

Fred Sirieix has announced he is to open a second prison-based restaurant. Following the success of the first, opened by his charity The Right Course, at HMP Isis in Thamesmead he will now open a similar restaurant at Wormwood Scrubs.

The Right Course is a charity set up by Fred Sirieix to train up prisoners in hospitality and give them the skills they need to get jobs upon release from prison. The venues are opened in what were prison staff restaurants and are operated as of they were on the high street.

Fred said on Twitter: “Very excited to announce the opening of our 2nd The Right Course #charity #restaurant @ HMP Wormwood #Scrubs in early April.”

The Wormwood Scrubs project will feature both a coffee shop and a full table service restaurant. Fred explained: “The aim is to ensure offenders learn the skills and values of hospitality so that upon release they can gain employment thus reducing re-offending (currently about 50%) and helping to solve the skills and staff shortage in the restaurant hospitality business.”

Prisoners can get the chance to cook alongside chefs from some of London’s elite restaurants. Chefs who have taken part so far include Jose Pizarro, Chris Galvin and Joo Won (Galvin at Windows).

Positive News For Hospitality From Budget Announcement Yesterday

There has been a positive reaction in hospitality to the budget announced yesterday. The hospitality sector received the good news of an extension to the business rates holiday through to the end of June as well as news of a new restart grant up to £18,000 which will be introduced from next month.

VAT applied to food both eat-in and takeaway will remain at 5% for a further six months until the 30th September. The same applies to accommodation and attractions. After this date the rate will rise to 12.5% for a further six months.

Alcohol duty will be frozen for a further year. Businesses will be expected to start contributing 10% of employees’ wages towards the furlough scheme from July, and then 20% in August and September.

Chancellor Sunak said in his speech:

“We’re going long, extending our support well beyond the end of the roadmap to accommodate even the most cautious view about the time it might take to exit the restrictions.”

The government is doubling incentive payments to businesses to £3,000 for all new apprentice hires of any age, alongside investing £126m in traineeships. Bounceback and Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan schemes will be replaced with a new recovery loan scheme. Businesses of any size can apply for loans from £25,000 up to £10m through to the end of this year, and the government will provide a guarantee to lenders of up to 80%.

From April 2021 this will cut companies’ tax bill by 25p for every pound they invest in new equipment, which Sunak described as “the biggest business tax cut in modern British history”.

Matthew Brend, Director at Brend Group (Brend Hotels) commented on Twitter:

“Considering the level of borrowing, @RishiSunak has again shown his support to hospitality with the announced VAT cut extension, rates holiday & other measures. He had us sweating for a minute, but he’s come through with some much-needed support to help the industry rebuild.”

What do you think of the budget? Let us know.

Get your Pub Kitchen Ready by Investing in the Future Now!

There has never been a more important time than now for pubs to understand how kitchen technology can pay serious dividends as the hospitality sector begins to open up and the first customers start to return.

Starting this month in partnership with The Chefs’ Forum Rational are serving up 5, 45 minute webinar demonstrations, called Rational Pubs Live online to explain and reveal how their latest equipment can change the way your kitchen operates.

Why this is a big deal and why you should definitely tune in

By combining the Rational cooking systems, with the iVario Pro and iCombi Pro, 95% of all conventional cooking applications can be achieved whilst at the same time achieving space savings of up to 40%

By attending the Pubs Live online webinar, you can discover how to use the Rational cooking systems and deliver a return on your investment. You will also learn how to maximise your energy output, increase production, reduce cooking time and, most importantly produce consistent, high-quality dishes with minimum effort.

To celebrate the launch of the Pub Live online programme, Rational is offering £325 worth of free accessories* to any attendees who purchase an iCombi Pro and/or iVario Pro cooking system following the event.