Singapore chefs turn the heat up at the Culinary World Cup 2022

The Singapore National Culinary Team at the Culinary World Cup in 2018. (Photo: Singapore Chef's Association Facebook Page)

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The Culinary World Cup, which takes place once every four years, is held as part of the Expogast, an international trade show for the gastronomy industry. In 2018, Singapore narrowly lost the top position to Sweden by 0.5 points. Singapore has been crowned champion four times — in 2016, 2014, 2010 and 1998.

Koh is co-leading the team with team manager Kong Kok Kiang, executive chef of Sentosa Golf Club and the vice-president of the Singapore Chefs Association, the representative group for professional chefs in Singapore.

The other team members are Aloysious Tay, culinary lecturer at Temasek Polytechnic; Darren Chin, chef at SATS Catering; Marvas Ng, executive chef of PATH Dining; Ben Goh, executive pastry chef at Angliss, and Wee Pai Hau, pastry chef at InterContinental Singapore.

An intense cooking competition planned down to the minute

Singapore Chefs’ Association

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The Culinary World Cup competition comprises two segments. The first is Restaurant D’Nation. Each team has to prepare a three-course meal that is representative of its country for 110 people within five hours. This is followed by four hours of dining service to guests who have bought tickets to dine at the expo.

The most stressful part? The judges will be dining incognito among the audience. Judging criteria include the taste of dishes, the standard of hygiene in food preparation, and down to how the ingredients are stored and packed. Extra points are also awarded when multiple cooking techniques are showcased in a dish.

The other segment is Chef’s Table, in which each team has to whip up a themed tasting menu, from bread and butter, intermediate vegan course, mains, desserts to petite fours for 12 diners. Besides the food, the service, plating and table furnishings will be scrutinised. The team will be supported by eight assistants on-site, who will help prepare the ingredients and settle other back-end work.

The biggest challenge of competing at the Culinary World Cup is replicating the cooking process in an entirely different setting.

Koh says: “The challenge is to achieve a consistent quality of food and operate in a set-up that we have been used to in our training sessions at the competition.” To control the cooking environment, the team will be flying over most of their cooking utensils and equipment that they have trained with for the past year, and have practised cooking from some frozen ingredients.

Related: Singapore chefs share their favourite food memories of home

‘It feels like being in the World Cup’

Chef Koh Han Jie, captain of the Singapore National Culinary Team. (Photo: Singapore Chefs’ Association)

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Besides the rigour of the high-octane competition, there is also the pressure of cooking in front of a live audience. This is something that Koh remembers vividly during his debut at the Culinary World Cup in 2018. 

He recalls: “It felt like being in the World Cup, where a few thousand supporters were waving flags, shouting and hitting drums. It is also more pressurizing as there are many extra pairs of eyes looking at our every movement.”

Another challenge is dealing with the unpredictable waves of diners that have paid to dine at the competition which could jeopardize the kitchen workflow. “We will have to dish out food in a shorter time, but still maintain its quality,” he adds.

More than 4,500 training hours put in

Veteran chef Otto Weibel gives his feedback at a Chef's Table training session. (Photo: Singapore Chefs’ Association)

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Over the past year, the team, which was formed a year ago, have put in more than 4,500 hours into weekly training sessions at their respective restaurants and venues such as the Country Foods Experiential Centre in The Arts House.

During the training sessions, team members cook and prepare the dishes according to the competition’s judging criteria, get feedback from their mentors, and discuss ways to improve the dishes.

They have also cooked for progressively larger groups of people to get a more accurate sense of the competition. Over the past month, they had three training dinners, which included cooking for Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong for their final practice session last week. 

Last month, The Peak attended a training session for the Chef’s Table segment, in which veteran chefs and competition judges such as Louis Tay and Otto Weibel were invited to give feedback on the team's dishes for the competition.

Koh pointed out that about 40% of the menu was changed after that training session, as the veteran chefs covered the nitty-gritty, from the naming of dishes to the presentation and flavour combinations of the dishes.

Related: F&B veteran Otto Weibel discusses the issue of veganism

$250,000 raised to send a culinary team to the competition

Singapore Chefs’ Association

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Besides training, the team has raised $250,000 and secured 10 sponsors to cover the expenses of sending the team to compete overseas. Expenses include the logistics costs of shipping 1,000kg of kitchen equipment and utensils such as plates and knives and some ingredients to Luxembourg.

Besides cooking, the team also has to spend time participating in fund-raising activities, which include developing recipes for sponsors, and settling logistical and procurement issues. 
I hope that more people will be able to see that cooking is a skill set that can be truly valued.

Koh, who has participated in international culinary competitions, relishes these opportunities as the intensive training has helped him become a better chef.

He says: “Besides the opportunity to travel, these competitions expose me to what’s trending in the culinary world, such as ingredients, producers and industry professionals. I can also see what chefs from other countries are doing. It also trains my time and stress management skills so that I can work better under pressure in my restaurant.” 

Koh hopes that with greater awareness of professional cooking competitions like the Culinary World Cup, the achievements of chefs can be recognized on the same level as sporting achievements. He says: “I hope that more people will be able to see that cooking is a skill set that can be truly valued.” 

 

Watch this space for updates on the Singapore national culinary team’s performance at the Culinary World Cup 2022. 

Related: These Singapore chefs are heading new restaurants