Front of house student Shontelle Albert serves up trainee chefs Kristopher Burke and John Bland’s interpretation of tournedos Rossini.
EIT’s hospitality students and tutors have evolved a class exercise into a très grand 10-course dinner that goes down a treat with gourmet diners and is a highlight on the F.A.W.C. menu of events.
Now staged eight nights over a fortnight, the annual French-inspired degustation dinner started simply enough.
Programme coordinator Celia Kurta says that some five years ago, second-year trainee chefs were set an assignment which required them to study a region of France and its regional dishes.
A three-course menu developed from that, with student chefs preparing the dishes and front of house students serving them up as an evening meal to guests in the School of Hospitality’s training restaurant, Scholars. It has mushroomed from there.
The degustation format was adopted because a succession of small-sized portions dovetails well with curriculum learning. Students brainstorm ideas that celebrate classic French cuisine while creatively interpreting recipes to make the most of Hawke’s Bay’s seasonal bounty.
Guided by chef tutor Mark Caves, they plan a menu and then work singly or in pairs, using all the knowledge and skills they have acquired over the last two years to perfect the preparation and presentation of their allocated dish.
Front of house gets no less attention. French berets, red shirts and striped tops are de rigueur for students who this year served up dishes that included tomato consommé, bouillabaisse, coq au vin, Brittany duck crêpes, tournedos Rossini, chocolate mousse and petit fours.
They also matched French and New Zealand wines to the dishes.
The on-campus Scholars restaurant was festooned with strings of bunting featuring the national colours of France.
Three years ago, the event so impressed the Hawke’s Bay Food and Wine Society that it donated $500 to the School of Hospitality – money used to commission a Bachelor of Visual Arts and Design student to craft a model Eiffel Tower.
Given pride of place in Scholars, the structure has spawned mini versions that feature as table centrepieces.
The degustation dinners are heavily booked, Mark points out, and it was a sell-out event in this year’s Food and Wine Classic programme. Featuring photographs and outlining their approach to their dishes, the menu for diners at F.A.W.C.’s EIT Chefs of Tomorrow – A Taste of France also included the students’ own recipes.
“The first night was so full-on,” says Celia of this year’s degustation dinners. “The students really rise to the occasion, and it’s cool seeing them getting into the groove of things.”