Sunway’s leGPjunior Culinary Competition showcase skills

Iris Wong Sze Wei and Leong Hui Cui of SMK USJ12 recently emerged champions of the leGPjunior Culinary Competition organised by the School of Hospitality Tourism and Management (SHTLM), Sunway University. The duo clad in their yellow school t-shirts and aprons were over the moon when they heard their names summoned during the prize giving ceremony. Not so far behind were Yong Tuck Meng and Lim Pey Wen of SMK Bandar Utama Damansara (4) who took 2nd place and Chooi Wei Wei and Ng Siew Yee from SMK Bandar Baru Seri Petaling who emerged third during the competition.

Iris Wong Sze Wei and Leong Hui Cui of SMK USJ12 championed the Sunway’s leGPjunior Culinary Competition.

The Champions took home bursaries worth 50% in tuition fee waiver for either a diploma of degree programme in SHTLM, Sunway University each, an individual trophy, a challenge trophy for the school and a certificate of commendation from Sunway Univeristy. The 1st runner-up and 2nd runner-up winners walked away with bursaries worth 30% and 20% in tuition fee waiver for either a diploma or degree programme in SHTLM respectively, individual trophies and a certificates of commendation from Sunway University.

The competition was an initiative by the SHTLM to educate students on French cuisine and at the same time provide them with a window of opportunity to exercise their culinary skills in the newly built state-of-the-art preparation kitchen worth RM6 million.

Finalists SMK Seri Bintang Selatan, SMJK Kwang Hwa, SMJK Katholik, Chef Soon Pau Voon, Ms Anisha Chai Mee Fong, Chef Patrick Siau Chi Yin, SMK Bandar Utama, Damansara (4), SMK USJ 12 and SMK Bandar Baru Seri Petaling

This competition saw 6 finalists out of the 16 schools that were exclusively invited to partake in the competition. Chef Patrick, a lecturer cum Head Chef for SHTLM demonstrated how to prepare white chicken stew with shallots and choux pastry for their challenge. During the demonstration, he also shared his experience growing as a chef as well as basic cooking tips. The participants managed to remain entertained while jotting down notes in between his demonstration.

The challenge was to recreate the white stew chicken with shallots and choux pastry they had seen during the demonstrating and incorporate mushrooms into the dishes in 1 ½ hours. The participants were judged based on arrangement, correct utilisations of the utensils, preparations, punctual delivery and taste.
Miss Anisha Chai, Head of the SHTLM said, “The participants have put on a superb performance since this morning. They were indeed lucky to be the first batch ever to utalize the new kitchen that will enhance their learning experience”.

Iris Wong Sze Wei and Leong Hui Cui from the winning team said, “We are very happy and have learnt so much in such a short time. The management and the support we received from all that were present here is amaizng. We also learnt to trust each other and how to remain calm when we encountered a hiccup. We are grateful and would like to thank Sunway University for this rare opportunity”.