SKYCITY Apprentice Chef wins Auckland Regional Youth Skills Final
Wednesday 16 May 2012, 3:09PM
By SKYCITY Entertainment Group
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On Saturday 5 May, SKYCITY second year apprentice chef William Mordido out-cooked his competitors and picked up the top prize in the chefs category at the 2012 Auckland Regional Youth Skills Final held at the Auckland University of Technology. William will now represent Auckland at the National Final held in Christchurch in July.
The Youth Skills competition is an annual event across all industry trades and fosters the best apprentice talent from throughout the country. The Chef competition in which William competed, saw competitors having to produce a three course meal from a ‘magic box’ of ingredients. This is a true test of cooking skill as the menu can not be written in advance and the competitors literally need to think and act on their feet.
Following a series of regional and then national finals a team is selected to represent New Zealand at the World Final. Team members are compromised of all trades including plumbers, carpenters and of course chefs.
William was mentored by two SKYCITY Chefs, Roberto Manuel and Peter Ray, both of whom have spent many hours training William outside of their normal working schedule. Results from the 2012 Auckland Regional event continues a great track record that SKYCITY Auckland has for the last two years, with apprentices winning the regional competition and representing New Zealand at the World Finals.
“The expert guidance and on the job mentoring I experience working at SKYCITY gives me the confidence to participate in competitions and I am excited about the opportunity to travel to Christchurch to compete in the New Zealand Work Skills Final. Then my goal is to compete in Germany in 2013 at the World Final” says Mordido.
About SKYCITY
SKYCITY Auckland is the home of entertainment in Auckland offering visitors two hotels including SKYCITY Grand Hotel voted eighteenth Best in the World by Expedia.com in 2011, a world class casino, 23 restaurants and bars with Depot being awarded Best Restaurant, Best New Restaurant, Best Bristo in the 2012 Metro Restaurant of the Year Awards, SKYCITY Theatre, Convention Centre and of course the world famous Sky Tower right in the heart of the city.