Cookery students take home silver at AUS-TAFE state finals

Two cookery students, Chris Vo and Sam Soon, have won second place in the AUS-TAFE Culinary Trophy State Final cookery competition held at Bendigo TAFE.
Friday 1 July 2022

Two cookery students, Chris Vo and Sam Soon, have won second place in the AUS-TAFE Culinary Trophy State Final cookery competition held at Bendigo TAFE. Chris and Sam are currently studying the Certificate III in Commercial Cookery SIT30816 at VU Polytechnic.

The competition featured 35 apprentices from all over Victoria and was open to first, second or third year apprentice chefs currently enrolled in the Certificate III or IV in Commercial Cookery. All Victorian TAFEs were invited to send up to 8 representatives to compete for the trophy.

Each competitor was tasked with preparing, cooking and presenting a two egg omelettes filled with hard cheese; cleaning and filleting one 500g whole fish for two servings of an entrée; and cooking two servings of a hit main dish that features chicken with a jus or sauce. Students had 2.5 hours to complete their tasks.

Chris's menu description included:

  • pan-fried barramundi with golden yuba skin and trio salad
  • roast chicken ballotine with fondant potatoes and carrot puree.

Sam's menu descrtiption included:

  • pan-fried fillet snapper with beurre blanc accompanied with herb salad
  • chicken jambonette with chicken rice and broccolini with ginger spring onion sauce.

David Hayes, teacher and culinary coordinator, said:

“This is the perfect place for students to demonstrate their own skills and knowledge, and test their ability to perform in a high-pressure environment. Chris and Sam worked really hard and it’s brilliant to see all their hard work has really paid off for them with such a fantastic result.”

Congratulations Chris, Sam and the cookery staff for such a wonderful outcome!