Enderun Slays Its Way to Chef Wars Victory
In spite of its long absence in the culinary competition circuit, Enderun Colleges has reaffirmed its status as one of the Philippines’ finest once again by winning the Student Division Championship in the recently concluded Chef Wars 2017.
Held during the Sabor Bisaya Food Expo and Culinary Competition 2017 in Bacolod City last July 20-21, Enderun participated as the representative of Luzon under the Student Division after winning the preliminary rounds earlier that month.
The three-man team consisted of Junsuk Oh, Katrina Ong, and Nathaniel Serneo—all 4th year students enrolled under BS-IHM CA—and they were coached by Chefs Suzette Montinola and Gabriel Ong.
The final competition proved to be tough because teams were given specific ingredients to highlight in their respective dishes. For Enderun, the main ingredient requirement was chicken eggs, while the supplementary ingredient was chocolate. For their individual dishes, Oh made an “eggs in a nest” composed of chocolate tagliatelle carbonara-style, hot spring egg, and spiced chicken jus; Ong made a crustacean royale that featured cocoa nantua sauce and 65-degree oil poached yolk; and Serneo made a brazo de mercedes blanc manger with yema and chocolate cashew crumble.
When asked about the experience, the team agreed that apart from their own hard work, having a great support system was a definite boost to their confidence. “It was really tough for us—we had to balance both our finals and practices—but with Gato and Chef Suzette and all the other chefs, they helped us. When we wanted to quit or give up, they found ways to keep on pushing us.”
Meanwhile Chef Suzette Montinola believes that this is a new beginning. “Enderun has not joined a major competition in the last 4-5 years,” she reveals, “so it was good exposure and training for the students. It also helped us realize how much harder we need to work to keep the competitive advantage.”
“Winning this competition has definitely given Enderun the chance and the motivation to encourage students to compete again. With the growing amount of potential and talent within the student population, we would most likely see a future of battling in foreign grounds.”
Enderun Colleges won the championship title with only a point difference over fellow gold medal awardee, St. Therese-MTC from Visayas. Meanwhile, Lourdes College from Mindanao bagged bronze.
