Welsh Chefs Enjoyed Foie, Flair & Flavour at Park House Restaurant & Bar

At The Chefs’ Forum’s biggest Welsh event to date, nearly one hundred guests gathered at Park House Restaurant and Bar, Cardiff.  It was great to celebrate the lively Welsh food scene of culinary excellence with so many esteemed chefs in attendance from Cardiff and beyond.

Head Chef Matt Waldron welcomed students from Coleg Gwent to create stunning canapés for the chefs and front of house professionals who attended the event.  The Chefs’ Forum plans to work even more closely with this fantastic college in Newport to send chefs in to teach at the college via The Chefs’ Forum Academy to be implemented this September.

Mike Logut from Foie Royale gave an introduction to the ethical alternative to Foie Gras.  Chefs all over the UK are eagerly adopting this new culinary treat and Mike has been working with chefs to develop new recipes including foie Royale ravioli and Foie Royale Creme Brulée!  Chef Matt Waldron told the audience that he had recently switched from traditional foie gras to Foie Royale as the flavour is sublime and works extremely well in his amuse bouche of Foie Royale Crème Caramel that he demonstrated, then served to the guests.  It also makes a statement against the force-feeding and low animal welfare practices with which foie gras is associated.

Mike Logut of Foie Royale stated

“It works, this really works – what an amazing flavour combination?!  I love the finesse of different chefs and hugely appreciate their creativity in incorporating Foie Royale into so many delicious dishes.”

Matt then performed a second demo of Wagyu beef with white asparagus, grelot onions and puffed rice – the chefs really enjoyed sampling his dish and gained inspiration from it.

Adam and Claire Pledger, owners at Park House provided a welcome drink and three fine wines for tasting, paired to three delicious cheeses from Harvey & Brockless.  It was great for the front of house element of the Forum to learn about the cheeses as they will be the ones serving them to guests in the restaurant.  Adam was joined by sommelier Alexandre Saby and Restaurant Manager, Alex Cole to sample the wines and talk guests through the pairings.

Adam said

“It’s great to see so many hospitality professionals here today and a fantastic opportunity to showcase what we do here at Park House Restaurant and Bar.  We have high hopes in aiming for a third AA Rosette as Matt is now heading-up the kitchen here and it has been great to invite chefs to sample wines from our extensive, award-winning wine cellar.  We look forward to welcoming students from Coleg Gwent back for work experience in the near future.”

The students then got to participate in a brilliant cocktail-making competition where they learnt stirred, shaken and thrown cocktail-making skills.  Level three students Chloe McCarthy and Ben Pope won the competition to net themselves a weekend of work experience in Park House’s award-winning bar – This is a great opportunity for the two winning learners as it will make them more work-ready and employable on leaving college.

The Chefs’ Forum is looking forward to working even more closely with College Gwent as plans are afoot for a fifth Chefs’ Forum Academy that will see top Welsh chefs delivering guest lectures at the college and participating in Hospitality Industry Taster Days to encourage GCSE students to consider Hospitality and Catering as a post-16 option in the next stage of their educational journey.

Together we are stronger in bridging the gap between education and industry and encouraging more young people enter into hospitality as a career choice.  Together we will combat the shortage of chefs and do our utmost to promote our fantastic industry as the brilliant career choice it is.  No other industry offers such brilliant mentorship and global employment opportunities.