Student catering teams from MidKent College’s Medway Campus went head-to-head in the tense final of a month-long competition.
The college’s Battle of the Chefs challenge saw three teams competing to impress diners with the high standard of their dishes. Having already battled it out in the opening heats of the challenge, the students had everything to play for in the competition final, held last week at the college’s new campus on Medway Road in Gillingham.
The final tested each team’s ability to reproduce a number of classic dishes. College chef instructor Sean Stratton said: “They had to show an understanding of a range of techniques and demonstrate their own flair when garnishing the final dishes. On top of all this, they were asked to cook live in front of their customers on three huge barbeques. It was an exciting night.”
The grand final saw the college’s students serving up a range of dishes, including smoked salmon and baby leek tart, ham hock terrine, char-grilled rump steak, and tuna niçoise salad. With over 100 guests to cater for, it was a pressured evening for the trainees – who are all studying courses in Hospitality and Catering at the college.
19 year old Sean Armstrong said: “We’ve spent around a month preparing for this evening and although it’s definitely been stressful, it has been a totally worthwhile experience for us.”
Once the guests had selected and eaten their chosen dishes, each course was scored according to the students’ quality of service as well as the food’s flavour. The highest scoring team – the blue team – was awarded the competition trophy at the evening’s close.
Leader of the winning team, 22 year old Louise Heffernan from Rochester, said: “I’m in shock that we’ve won. It probably won’t sink in until we start clearing up later this evening.
“We run a number of big functions across the year and each time we do, we all jump at the chance to get involved. It’s such great experience for us and we thoroughly enjoy it.”
Programme Area Leader for Hospitality and Catering courses at the college, Pauline Harrison said: “Boy it has been a hard day and night for these students, but they have been outstanding - as have the staff who have worked so hard to support them.”
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