THE WORLD OF LE CORDON BLEU CHEFS
An update from Le Cordon Bleu as to what their Asian graduates are accomplishing all around the world.
France – Gordon Ramsay has appointed Simone Zanoni, a Le Cordon Bleu graduate from 1996, as the head chef at his new Gordon Ramsay au Trianonrestaurant in Versailles in France. Simone Zanoni, head chef at the new restaurant after five years keeping Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in triple (Michelin) stars, comes in for praise from Gordon ‘This young guy is extraordinary and he came to me from the Cordon Bleu Cookery School’
United States – We are thrilled that the America’s Top Chef award went to Stephanie Izard, a graduate of our Le Cordon Bleu program at the Scottsdale Culinary Institute. The finals contestants included 5 graduates from the Culinary institute of America, 2 from Le Cordon Bleu schools (California Culinary Academy and Scottsdale) , as well as the French Culinary Institute, Kendall College and Johnson and Wales. Stephanie is the first woman to become Bravo Channel’s “Top Chef.” Izard, a successful 31-year-old chef in Chicago, beat 15 other competitors to win the title. Wrapping its fourth season, the show pinned 16 chef-contestants head-to-head in 24 culinary challenges, all for the ultimate prize of $100,000, a feature in Food & Wine Magazine, a showcase at the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, Colorado, and a gourmet’s dream vacation to the French Alps.
United Kingdom – A funny story about Natalie Potter, a Le Cordon Bleu hotel management student from Adelaide. After doing her first academic stage at Le Cordon Bleu in Adelaide, she chose to do her first internship as a Sommelier at the Malmaison hotel in Liverpool, England. After being briefed to not respond to customers who just click their fingers at staff, she then responded to such a customer to explain that hospitality staff deserved respect as they had to start at the bottom and work their way up. The customer then gave her his card and claimed that he knew what it was like to work in hospitality. The name on the card was Gordon Ramsay. By the end of the night Gordon Ramsay offered her a job in one of his restaurants, (and a big tip!) – but she has come back to complete her degree at Le Cordon Bleu before she decides what to do next in her career.
United States – Gordon Ramsay judged the final 2 contestants, and presented a Le Cordon Bleu award to the winner, of the “Hey can you Cook” competition on the Rachael Ray Show, a top rating daytime show in the U.S. http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/show/view/473/
Taiwan – Some of you may be aware of the new Taiwanese movie ROLLING LOVE which has as part of its storyline a person who is a Cordon Bleu graduate. Leng Lie comes from a well-off family and is a Cordon Bleu trained chef who is widely acclaimed for his nearly perfect cuisine. He is admired Internationally by women and chefs as a representative of the highest standards. See http://www.mysoju.com/rolling-love-go-fried-rice/
Singapore – Cassandra Seow a recent Le Cordon Bleu Hotel Management Bachelor graduate from Singapore, has started work at the Grand Hyatt in Dallas, Texas as a management trainee. Another LCB Graduate from Korea, Anna OH, is also working at the Grand Hyatt in Dallas.
We are pleased that Daphane Loke has been able to open another Saybon’s outlet in Philip St near Raffles Place in the Grand Building #01-01/02www.saybons.com
Two Le Cordon Bleu Hospitality Management bachelor graduates, Felix Ang & Karen Lam are doing well at their Bistro 103 in Pasir Panjang Road – There are some good reviews around town http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/bistro_one_zero_three/
On 29 June, The Straits Times in Singapore had a special on chefs and profiled David Heng from Food For thought and also Janice Wong from 2am dessert Bar. http://www.foodforthought.com.sg/ or http://business.asiaone.com/Business/Office/Hot%2BJobs/Story/A1Story20080630-73774.html
Macao – We are thrilled that the huge 3000 suite Venetian Macao hotel/casino http://www.venetianmacao.com/en/home.aspx has appointed one of our management graduates, Singaporean Ashley NG, to be the Executive Housekeeper. According to wikipedia, the Venetian Macao is the 3rd largest building in the world http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venetian_Macao
Indonesia – Another series of Selebriti Masak has been commissioned by Global TV with LCB graduate, Bondan Pambudi, as host.
Philippines – The new Culinary School of Aristocrat (yes CIA!) has Chef Gabby Prats , a Le Cordon Bleu graduate, as one of their faculty. Seehttp://www.ciaschool.org/index.html
Also Rebecca Disini, graduate of LCB London, will be teaching at Enderun College in Manila, joining LCB Australian graduate Bel Castro there.
LCB graduate Bruce Lim’s TV Show, Tablescapes on Studio 23, will now be shown on Asian Food Channel around Asia.
Malaysia – Mabel Ng, Miss Malaysia 2002, recently graduated from Basic Cuisine at the new Le Cordon Bleu school in Bangkok. She says “I was really impressed with the training at Le Cordon Bleu, the facilities as well as the chef… I am glad I made it to the course”
Delvin Yeap from Kota Kinabalu rejected a job offer in the Middle East to stay and work as Chef de Partie at the exclusive Altitude restaurant at the Shangri La hotel in Australia. He recently graduated with the Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Diploma.
The Cooking House in Sri Hartamas now has two Le Cordon Bleu Graduates helping to teach their part time and after hours classes – Swee San LIM andKenneth KAM. To enroll see www.thecookinghouse.com
PROGRAM NEWS
Australia – We have just had Disney World Florida, Hyatt and Starwood representatives all coming to the Adelaide management campus to recruit students for internships, as well as fresh graduates for management trainee positions.
Online – or on campus in Australia – The Master of Arts (Gastronomy) program is attracting top people from around the world. For example, Harvard and Culinary Institute of America graduate, Michael Meagher, who is doing his dissertation on “Attitudes towards screwcap wines in the U.S.” Michael worked in some of Boston’s top restaurants before he says he ‘discovered the perfect program to combine his passions for academia and food” More information athttp://www.gastronomy.adelaide.edu.au/ Titles of dissertations that have been completed can be viewed athttp://www.gastronomy.adelaide.edu.au/dissertations/ And some food blogs by some of our current students can be viewed at: http://www.leenaeats.com/blog/ http://newyorkerdownunder.blogspot.com/ http://www.foodologist.com/ http://desperatelyseekingcrab.com/ http://cari-vicarious.blogspot.com/
Visit to THE PHILIPPINES:
CEBU – Thurs Oct 23rd – Interview at the new ANZANI’s
MANILA – Sat Oct 25th 2-4pm – Free seminar on studying hospitality and working in Australia. Call Inter-Ed on (632) 819 1001/02 to book
