The Miele Guide awards culinary scholarships to two young Asian talents
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The Miele Guide awards culinary scholarships to two young Asian talents
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Category: Asia Pacific - Gourmet restaurants
- Gourmet restaurants
This is a press release selected by our editorial committee and published online for free on 2008-11-04
The Miele Guide-At-Sunrice scholarships were awarded to two young aspiring chefs, Lai Kit Yee and Malcolm Lee Seow Meng in the presence of some of Asia’s most celebrated chefs and restaurateurs plus regional and international food critics and journalists on October 31, 2008.
The two culinary scholarships are offered this year under the newly created The Miele Guide Culinary Scholarship Programme which aims to promote formal culinary education and encourage excellence and continual achievement in the Asian culinary field.
Lai Kit Yee and Malcolm Lee Seow Meng, selected from amongst numerous applicants, are given the opportunity to attend the Diploma in Culinary Craft and Service Excellence (DCCSE) course at the renowned At-Sunrice GlobalChef Academy (At-Sunrice). Both recipients had successfully passed the selection process with the At-Sunrice admissions board. The professional 15-month DCCSE course will equip the two with fundamental culinary skills and techniques of both Eastern and Western cuisine.
The recipients will be under the tutelage of the distinguished international chef faculty at At-Sunrice, which includes experienced chefs and executive chefs who have worked at highly acclaimed international establishments, as well as award-winning food authors and service excellence professionals. As part of the course, the recipients will also acquire professional kitchen experience over 12 months through apprenticeships at some of Singapore’s finest restaurants. Upon graduation, recipients who perform outstandingly will be given the opportunity to work at a prestigious dining establishment in Singapore or overseas through TalentMatch©, the academy’s annual culinary career fair.
Lai Kit Yee from Hong Kong, presently a Commis II and Grill chef at Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, was awarded The Miele Guide-At-Sunrice scholarship offered to citizens or permanent residents of one of the 16 Asian countries evaluated in the Guide, with the exception of Singapore. She is a young and talented chef. She won a silver award in the Hong Kong International Culinary Classic 2007. “I am very excited to be given this opportunity to train at At-Sunrice. I want to keep learning more and gain experience from people from different places. This course will help me become a better chef,” says Lai Kit Yee.
The other scholarship, offered to Singapore citizens or permanent residents, was awarded to Malcolm Lee Seow Meng, a Singaporean final-year student at Singapore Management University (SMU). He is keenly involved in the operations of The Treehouse, an Asian and Italian café in SMU and has apprenticed at Harry’s Tap Room in Virginia. “I am thrilled to be chosen to receive this scholarship. To be able to learn from and train under the expert faculty at At-Sunrice, and to be able to acquire professional kitchen experience through the course is a great privilege. I hope to become an outstanding chef one day,” says Malcolm Lee Seow Meng.
“Kit Yee and Malcolm are talented young budding chefs. With the scholarships, we aim to provide them with strong, foundational training for their growth. Ultimately, we believe that greater commitment to professional training will help the restaurant industry in Asia grow. This is the overarching goal of The Miele Guide. We hope that by recognising Asia’s best, as well as Asia’s new talents, the industry will continue to flourish and develop,” says Tan Su-Lyn, Director, Ate Media Pte Ltd which publishes The Miele Guide.
This year, The Miele Guide-At-Sunrice scholarships are funded through a percentage of the worldwide sales revenue of the 2008/2009 edition of the Guide. They are also jointly sponsored by At-Sunrice and supported by Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA).
“At-Sunrice believes in advancing culinary art with integrity and meaning. We are delighted to award the scholarships to the two promising chefs. Student diversity, student experience and industry savviness are three of At-Sunrice’s key success factors. We want to transform students into global chefs – professionals who have worked in three countries by the time they turn 30. Having seen and worked with the best in the world, these young chefs will then be poised to become Asia's rising stars of tomorrow” says Christophe Megel, CEO of At-Sunrice.
“The Miele Guide-At-Sunrice culinary scholarship offered to Singapore citizens and permanent residents provides local students with an excellent opportunity to advance their culinary skills. We are glad to partner with The Miele Guide and At-Sunrice GlobalChef Academy in training and nurturing talent in the food and beverage industry,” says Ms Teo Sio Hoon, Director (Tourism Division), Singapore Workforce Development Agency.
“Miele has always believed in continued self-improvement. Our company philosophy is about being Forever Better. We are thus very excited to be able to help these two promising and passionate young chefs improve their skills and achieve greater heights in their culinary careers. In time to come, we believe Kit Yee and Malcolm will contribute greatly to the Asian fine-dining scene,” says Mario Miranda, Managing Director of Miele Pte Ltd.
The Miele Guide heralds a new standard in the Asian culinary sphere and sets a benchmark for measuring the best restaurants in the region. Starting with this first edition, The Miele Guide will annually publish a list of Asia’s 20 best restaurants. These restaurants will be numerically ranked and profiled in-depth. In addition, the inaugural 2008/2009 edition lists the other 300 best restaurants from across the region, categorised by country, city and cuisine. This year, restaurants in 16 Asian countries were evaluated—Brunei, Cambodia, China (including Hong Kong and Macau), India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
The Miele Guide is published by Ate Media Pte Ltd and sponsored by Miele, a German manufacturer of premium and innovative cooking appliances for the home. While a naming sponsor of the Guide, Miele did not exert any influence over the selection and judging process that determined which restaurants appear in The Miele Guide.
Further underlining its independence, neither The Miele Guide nor its contributors accepted any advertising, sponsorship or free meals from any of the restaurants reviewed.
The 2008/2009 edition of this new annual guide is now available at major bookstores throughout Asia and Australia. It is also available via The Miele Guide’s website (mieleguide.com) and Amazon.com.
The slim, elegant and affordable Guide, which will retail at US$15, will be for every traveller, foodie and business person looking to dine in Asia.
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