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Young chefs wow local foodies at Wakatipu Youth Trust culinary spectacular

Wednesday 10 July 2013, 2:57PM

By Southern Public Relations

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(L-R Back Row) Nathan Baxter, Joel Pratt, Jacqui Moir, Fi Sawyer, Cassey Strachan, (Front) Haruka Arai, Alice Ward and Tessa Kennedy.
(L-R Back Row) Nathan Baxter, Joel Pratt, Jacqui Moir, Fi Sawyer, Cassey Strachan, (Front) Haruka Arai, Alice Ward and Tessa Kennedy. Credit: Southern Public Relations
Crowne Plaza Chef Ricky Isnanto, Scholarship winner Alice Ward and youth worker Nathan Baxter.
Crowne Plaza Chef Ricky Isnanto, Scholarship winner Alice Ward and youth worker Nathan Baxter. Credit: Southern Public Relations
L-R Kylie Walker Crowne Plaza, Youth Worker Nathan Baxter, Crowne Plaza's Guy Robinson and Scholarship winner Alice Ward.
L-R Kylie Walker Crowne Plaza, Youth Worker Nathan Baxter, Crowne Plaza's Guy Robinson and Scholarship winner Alice Ward. Credit: Southern Public Relations
Winner of the Cromwell Polytechnic Scholarship ain Action with mentor chef Ricky Isnanto from Crowne Plaza.
Winner of the Cromwell Polytechnic Scholarship ain Action with mentor chef Ricky Isnanto from Crowne Plaza. Credit: Southern Public Relations

QUEENSTOWN

Local foodies came out in force last night (Tuesday  9 July) to indulge in a culinary spectacular prepared and created by local Wakatipu High School Students at the Crowne Plaza Queenstown.

Held at the hotel’s Threesixty restaurant, the event was the culmination of the Wakatipu Youth Trust’s ‘Beyond the Basics -Top Chef’ initiative where local youth undertake a five-week chef mentoring programme.

Over that time the five youngsters, all 15 to 16-year-olds, worked with different local chefs each week to create a mouth-watering dish which they then recreated themselves at the finale dinner last night.

The “calm and collected” youngsters didn’t fail to impress the sell-out crowd of over 80 locals who enjoyed three courses during the night including the sumptuous pan seared local venison on polenta and the “surprise” dessert which incorporated panna cotta, liquorice, meringue, lime jelly and a zesty lemon fizz which had everyone talking.

The evening was a fundraising night and it raised over $3,660 which will go to the Wakatipu Youth Trust to enable the charity to run similar programmes in the future.

A scholarship at Cromwell Polytechnic’s Level 3 Cookery course, valued at over $6,000, was up for grabs for the student who showed the most promise and was awarded to 16 year old Alice Ward, who was “overwhelmed by the opportunity” and brought the restaurant to tears as she accepted her prize.

Youth Worker Nathan Baxter said all the students had worked hard over the last few weeks and showed “real dedicated, maturity and passion”. Each of the students had to submit essays and undergo interviews to state why they should win the scholarship and were also judged on their performance during the programme by the mentor chefs.

“It’s been an absolute pleasure to see the journey these guys have been on and to see so many local people here supporting them tonight is phenomenal”, Mr Baxter said.

“The decision was hard but in the end Alice blew us away with her essay and we know she will do us all proud and go on to do amazing things in the culinary world. She thoroughly deserves this amazing opportunity.”

Alice said she was “thrilled to have won” and was looking forward to studying when she finishes high school this year.

Crowne Plaza Queenstown Sales and Marketing Manager, Kylie Walker said the evening was a “great example of the community coming together to support each other”.

“The event was sold out and everyone was there to support and celebrate the achievements of these five amazing students. The food was sublime and you wouldn’t have believed that it was created by amateur young chefs. It’s been a pleasure for the team at Crowne Plaza to be involved as mentors and hosts throughout the initiative”.