Young chefs and servers battle for world final in Monaco

Sixteen young local chefs and catering servers (aged under 26) with a minimum of three years of hospitality experience joined the semi-final of Young Chef Young Waiter Macao last Saturday.

The Macau Culinary Association organized the competition supported by the Macao Government Tourism Office, the Macao Institute for Tourism Studies (IFTM), and Wynn Macau. It aimed to select eight semi-finalists for the local final next month.

In this final local event, one chef and one catering server will be selected to compete in an international world-final event in Monaco this November.

Macau finalists will meet their international counterparts from England, the Cayman Islands, Ireland, Wales, the United States, Canada, and India at the World Young Chef Young Waiter grand finale.

A panel of five judges headed by Worldchefs Certified International Judge, Perry Yuen, appraised semi-finalists on the following criteria for culinary arts: appropriate application of professional skills, good use of key ingredients, the overall balance of menu as well as taste, texture, and flavor. Coordinator for the food and beverage programs at IFTM, Edwyn Tam, led another judging panel of five to assess the performance of catering servers in terms of table setting, cutlery layout, and catering service knowledge.

In this semi-final, four chefs and four catering servers from Macau were chosen to enter the local final at Wynn Palace next month.