Catering students to prepare lunch at Caterer Chef Conference

Eight students from two of the South-East’s leading catering colleges will be among the chefs cooking lunch for delegates at the 2008 Caterer and Hotelkeeper Chef Conference.

The trainee chefs, from Westminster Kingsway College and Thames Valley University, will be working alongside their professional counterparts from contract caterer Lexington Catering and London’s InterContinental Park Lane hotel, the venue for the event which takes place on 12 May.

A team of senior chefs from Lexington will be mentoring the students in the run-up to and on the day of the conference.

The lunch will be presented as bowl food, with the menu concentrating on modern takes of traditional British dishes.

Dishes such as braised ox-tail with watercress, a piggy selection of pork belly, pig’s cheeks and crispy fried pig’s tail with a tartare sauce dip and desserts like lemon posset will be among those being served.

Robert Kirby, Lexington’s chef-director, who, with the InterContinental’s executive sous chef Robert Prendergast, is overseeing the lunch, said:

“We’ve all got very inspired sourcing local, British produce wherever possible. I think the lunch will be a great opportunity for these young chefs to really get stuck in and get some first-hand experience in a banqueting environment at a high-profile event.”

See 24 April issue of Caterer for a behind the scenes look at preparations for the Chef Conference lunch.

For further information and to reserve your place at the Chef Conference go to www.chefconference.co.uk.

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By Joanna Wood

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