WACS Global Chefs Challenge – Pacific Rim Semi Final

Tuesday the 8^th of September saw the gathering of the WACS Pacific Rim Continental Finalists to contest the right to represent our Continental region in the World Finals in Santiago, Chile in January 2010.

 

The competitors, their support teams, the judges and numerous officers of WACS gathered at the Sebel Pier One Hotel in Sydney Harbour. That first evening was taken up with the competitors briefing where they got to clarify the rules and criteria with the coordinators and judges. Confusions were cleared up and all came away with a complete understanding of what lay ahead.

 

Later on all gathered informally to reacquaint old friendships and establish new ones. One of the best benefits of belonging to WACS is the networking opportunities that take place. You just never know when one day you just may be in a completely different and unfamiliar part of the world and someone you met through a WACS initiative will be on hand to assist you in some small way.

 

Wednesday was taken up with gathering supplies and preparation work in readiness for the competition the following day. One of the vital things that will help any competitor or team with their competition work when travelling to an unfamiliar city is logistics. Where to secure the products you want, whether this is food or equipment. Doing your home work before you leave the familiarity of your home town will save valuable time and effort and keep the stress levels down. Google and Google Earth are must have resources for anyone competing outside of their normal environment. You can check out where you are staying, how far it is from the venue, search for the right places to secure products, where these places are in relation to where you will be.

 

The New Zealand contingent formulated our plan of attack before leaving home, and this was invaluable in terms of the time we saved ourselves on Wednesday, we knew where we needed to go to get the various bits that we required. We found a company called Fratelli Fresh and we can highly recommend them to anyone who in the future may find themselves in Sydney for a competition. There is not a lot that they don’t have, and next door to their store there is an amazing cheese, wine and gourmet food shop. Fratelli Fresh (www.fratellifresh.com.au) can be found at 81 McLeay St, Potts Point, and to boot they have an amazing bistro serving really great and affordable meals. We stayed for lunch, a must try lunch restaurant when in Sydney – I digress. The staffs here were extremely helpful and it was obvious they were knowledgeable and passionate about their products.

 

Wednesday afternoon was taken up with weighing up the ingredients for the competition and then ensuring that the menu descriptions and recipes were correct.

 

An early night was prescribed as we had a 4am start on Thursday. 4am came around all too fast and somewhat bleary eyed we made our way to Sydney Convention and Exhibition Center.

All teams arrived at approx 5am and duly set about organising their work spaces. Competition Coordinator, Chef Martin Carlin was there to welcome the competitors and run through everything with them and counting and checking that each competitor had the correct equipment pieces and crockery and that all plant equipment was in working order.

 

The judges duly arrived just after 6am and set about organising themselves. At 6.30am all competitors vacated their kitchen spaces, the judges gave a brief overview of the day’s events, photos of each team and the judges were taken and then 7am came around and the first competitor, Ross Howell along with his commis Angela Brown (representing Australia) were given the ok to enter their kitchen, they were closely followed by Ashley Thorpe and Gloria (Vanuatu) then Harikesh Dutt and Afifud Dean (Fiji)  and last but not least Mark Sycamore and Joseph Clarke (NZ) they were all under way and a flurry of activity was emanating from each kitchen. Slicing, dicing, chopping, filleting, searing, wrapping, moulding, mixing, beating, blending. Each team worked with a timed precision, checking, tasting, adjusting and on it went until it was time for service.

 

The judges, looking at each competitors set up, their MEP, their working methods, their hygiene practises all carefully scrutinised by a very strong and experienced panel of WACS judges.

 

The guests arrived; one by one each competitor served their courses, with the judges plates being carefully placed before them and then the guests plates before them.

 

All competitors worked within their allocated service times and before they knew it, it was over, time to clean up and then head back to the hotel for some quiet time before the awards function later that evening. Prior to this each competitor received feedback from the judging panel, this is an invaluable exercise as it gives concise and clear feedback on what they did well and areas for them to consider for their improvement.

 

The awards function was held at Lanzafarme Tratorria found inside the Sydney Star City complex, John Lanzafarme and his team are to be congratulated on their efficient and genuine service and from a chef’s perspective and most notably some of the BEST pizza to be found in this part of the world.

 

WACS Pacific Rim Continental Director, Glenn Austin welcomed everyone and spoke briefly on the benefits of competitions and initiatives such as the Global Chefs Challenge. WACS President Gissur Gudmundsson then spoke about the fraternity that is WACS and the benefits that chefs and their associations can glean from their membership.

 

Thanks was given to our esteemed judging panel, Martin Kobald (South Africa), Neil MacInnes (New Zealand) Brendan Hill (Australia – Pastry specialist) and Peter Wright (Australia) and of course our WACS Observer Chef Rick Stephens (Singapore)

 

Then it was time for the business of the awards themselves.

Vanuatu were awarded the best individual food and wine match, Fiji were awarded Bronze, New Zealand Silver and taking out top honours this time with Gold were Australia. Ross Howell and Angela Brown will now go on to represent the Pacific region in the World Finals in Santiago.

 

All in all an intense 2 and a bit days but as with initiatives such as this many new friendships were formed. We now wish Ross and Angela every success as they prepare for and then compete in Chile and look forward to them lifting the WACS Global Chefs Challenge Trophy and bringing it home for the Pacific Region.