Hospitality & Catering students join forces with TV Chef Cyrus Todiwala’s at the Show of Spice

The Chefs’ Forum held its London quarter two event at Café Spice Namaste, where aspiring chefs worked closely with TV Chef Cyrus Todiwala in his Asian cookery competition ‘Zest Quest Asia’.

Chefs’ Forum Founder, Catherine Farinha teamed-up with Denise Charles, Head of Curriculum – Sevice Industries at  West London College, to welcome the chefs to Café Spice Namaste and explain the work The Chefs’ Forum does to enrich students’ learning at the college.

The event served as an opportunity to bring together top chefs from across London, teaching staff and students from West London College and Westminster Kingsway College, and top suppliers to showcase their produces, products and services.

Students from both colleges spent the morning in the kitchens at Cafe Spice Namaste creating a canape menu with ingredients provided by The Chefs’ Forum sponsors, the dishes included Malabari beef samosas, pork vindaloo with garlic rice bowls and galinhas cafreal chicken amongst other delicious creations.

Cyrus was very impressed with the students and when asked to pick a ‘star of the day’, he couldn’t choose between and Nweti Pinto from West London College and Amelia Hsu from Westminster Kingsway College who both impressed him. The girls each received a signed copy of Cyrus’ book ‘Simple Spice’ and a day in the kitchen with Chef Cyrus to enjoy an intensive Indian cookery masterclass at Café Spice Namaste.

Mentoring and nurturing students is very close to Cyrus’ heart and he donates his time to young chefs on a regular basis. Cyrus said: “It’s very important that we mentor and nurture the next generation of hospitality professionals and keep introducing them to wonderful food and cooking styles from all over the world. It’s great to welcome West London College and Westminster Kingsway into my kitchen today, they have been a real credit to their colleges.”

West London College hospitality students will be joining forces with The Chefs’ Forum in June for the third year to run the Chefs’ Demo Theatre Stage at The London Produce Show to be held at Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane.  This prestigious event, now in its fifth year, will see top chefs showcase the finest fruit and vegetables from all around the world in expert chef recipes to a live audience of top chefs and food writers. The students will assist with cookery demos and hand out demonstration taster samples to the distinguished foodie audience.

The Chefs’ Forum stages forty chef events each year, across ten regions in the UK, bridging the gap between education and industry. Each event has a different theme and chefs and hospitality students are exposed to the latest cooking trends and key ingredients. The next London event will be held at the Waldorf Hilton in Aldwych on Monday 22 July 2019.