Junior IS ESF Chef Competition
The 2019 competition kicked off today, with 12 teams competing for a place in the top six spots. Each team was given a mystery box with chicken and four other ingredients of their choice, from carbohydrates and vegetables. With only ten minutes to plan, the teams were under pressure to come up with a dish that would not only impress the judges, but also cook within the one hour time limit. It was impressive to see the varied ideas and dishes that the junior teams managed to come up with. In the end, Natalie and Chelsea scooped the top spot with their Chicken tacos, followed closely by Charlotte and Valerie’s ravioli.
Many thanks to our judges and congratulations to the six teams that made it through to the second round.
5 Sara Adyanthaya Leyla Bauti 1 Chelsea Air Natalie Shiu 4 Rachel Sheary Samantha Lester 6 Elizabeth Ming Jenny Lau 2 Valerie Man Charlotte Man 3 Liron Perlman Tristan Wang
A day out at the Farm
Food lovers guide to culture and sweet indulgence students took a trip to Zen organic farm on Wednesday, to find out about organic ingredients. Farmer Joey took time to explain the benefits of eating organic, how organic farming is different from other types of farming and how her family started their farm some ten years ago. Students then took a tour around the farm and enjoyed feeding goats and rabbits. They then picked their own salad leaves which they used to make their own lunch. They also made their own pizzas and kale chips to go with their fresh salads.
Making salads.
picking greens for the salads.
Feeding rabbits.
Year 10 IGCSE class takes a trip to Pop Vegan, the newest restaurant in town
On Tuesday, the Year 10 IGCSE class took a trip to Pop Vegan, a new restaurant that recently opened on Elgin street in central. The class has been learning about meat and meat alternatives. On the trip, students enjoyed a three-course vegan lunch made completely without meat. On the menu was Vegan Tuna Tartare for a starter, Spaghetti Bolognaise for main course and a delicious Strawberry Cheese Cake for dessert.
After lunch, Miss Joanne Chow (General manager) and Miss Kaylie Mak (Marketing Executive) gave a talk about the vegan way of eating and why their restaurant advocates for this. Miss Mak explained to the students how the restaurant takes usual dishes to makes vegan alternatives, which are more environmentally friendly. She gave an example of the tuna tartare, which they make from konjac but still tastes and looks like real fish.
This was a great experience for the students.
Pop vegan are happy to welcome any members of the Island school community and gave us the QR codes below which provides more information.
Fast Food Culture
We all love and enjoy fast foods every now and then. But are fast food really good for us? Today, students explored this idea. After watching a clip of the documentary Super Size me to answer the question of a complete fast food diet, they were asked to make their own healthy version of fast food. Each group made a batch of chicken nuggets, burgers, potato wedges and coleslaw salad. The challenge was to upgrade the standard recipe using any other ingredients that they could find in the kitchen. All teams tried their hardest, showing creativity and good skills throughout. The judges were impressed with the presentation of all the dishes, but felt Charlotte, Elizabeth and Valerie had the edge over everyone with their paprika design.
Food lovers Guide to Culture World Food Fest
30th May was a big day on the calendar for the elements course Food lovers Guide to Culture. It was the first time the class run a world food festival, to celebrate all the different world cultures they had been learning about. Students worked in teams to prepare one dish from one region and all these dishes were later added to the buffet which served teachers and students at lunch time on the Tai Wai campus. Mr Burrough’s photography class came down to take photographs of the teams at work and also their final dishes. The festival was a great success and students received very positive feedback from visiting officials from ESF and Mr Loggie.
Well done to all students in Food lovers Guide to Culture and Mr Burrough and his Photography class who all helped to make this event a success.
For more photos of the event, please see Mr Burrough’s website on the link here
IS Junior Chef Finals
IS Junior chef competition took place at the STW campus on Friday. The competitors were all in high spirits and put on a very good fight for the coveted title. It was wonderful to watch each team create their own variations of regular street food. But in the end Da Vinci’s Andrea Cheung and Yu Kisa won the judges votes with their tasty b’an mi and cake pops.
IS Junior Chef Semi finals
ESF Junior chef semi finals were held last Friday, 9th March. The challenge was to create a classic dessert with a twist. The six competing teams came up with some impressive ideas that impressed the judges. After serious deliberation, Megan and Gemma came in first place for their deconstructed chocolate and marshmallow brownies with home made ice cream. Andrea and Yu got second place while Audrey and Jillian came third. The three teams will now go through to the next round to be held at STW campus on 20th April.
I want to thank the judges who gave up their time to come and support this competition.
Island School Chef (junior) Winners
The first round of IS junior Masterchef kicked off on Friday, 2nd February. Twelve teams of talented year nine students turned up at Tai Wai site to represent their house. The atmosphere was tense as everyone walked in nervously to chose their mystery ingredients for this creative challenge. With choices of ingredients made, the young cooks set off to plan and cook their creative dishes, in 1 hour and 15 minutes. The final dishes were impressive and the judges had a tough time choosing the best six to put through to the next round. In the end two teams tied in 6th Place. Da Vinci’s Andrea Cheung and Yu Kisa took first place with their impressive Soya Sauce and Honey Pan-Fried salmon .
Thai green Curry with Chef Ris
Today we had a visiting Chef teach students how to make authentic Thai green curry. Students were shown how to make the curry paste from the scratch and them use the paste to make their individual curries using their favourite meat. At the end of the session Chef Ris, with the help of Mr Clarke test/tasted all the curries to find out who had made the most authentic dish. This proved to be a tall order, because everyone had done their best to follow the process, despite the length. In the end, it was unanimously decided that for this week, everyone was a winner.
My Hong Kong
This weeks challenge was to use wet market ingredients, to make a dish which showed individual interpretation of Hong Kong cuisine.
Custard tarts, noddle soup, dumplings, steamed and pineapple buns, siu mai and stir fry are just a few of the fantastic dishes that were produced. But in the end Brianne, Jaimie and Chloe took cooks of the week title for the most authentic char siu, custard tarts and milk tea. Priya and Jordyn were commended for sourcing the best wet market ingredients. 
