Singapore National Culinary Team Clinches Double Gold and Best National Showpiece Award at Villeroy & Boch  Culinary World Cup 2022

2 Dec 2022 – Singapore chefs flew the Singapore flag high this week at the Villeroy & Boch Culinary World Cup 2022  in Luxembourg.

The Singapore National Culinary Team 2022, supported by the Singapore Chefs’ Association, scored double gold medals and the Best National Showpiece Award after two intense days of competition.

  • Team Manager & Vice President, SCA: Kong Kok Kiang- Executive Chef ,Sentosa Golf Club
  • Team Captain & SCA Member: Koh Han Jie- Executive Chef, Ce Soir
  • Team Member & SCA Member: Aloysious Tay Yu Wei- Lecturer, Temasek Polytechnic
  • Team Member & SCA Member: Darren Chin- Chef,  SATS Catering
  • Team Member & SCA Member: Marvas Ng- Executive Chef, PATH Dining
  • Pastry Team Member & SCA Member: Ben Goh- Executive Pastry Chef, Angliss
  • Pastry Team Member & SCA Member: Wee Pai Hau- Pastry Chef, InterContinental Singapore

The team was given the gold medal at the Chef’s Table category and also a gold medal at the newly introduced segment, National Showpiece. The Singapore National Culinary Team presented a spectacular sugar and chocolate sculpture inspired by Gardens by the Bay, which also got the Best National Showpiece award, along with Switzerland.  They scored silver for the Hot Cooking segment.

The international competition, set in Luxembourg, welcomes the best culinary teams every four years. Before the pandemic, the competition welcomed more than 30 teams each edition. For 2022, the organisers invited 15 of the  “best of” teams from around the world that have fared consistently well in the past.  Singapore is the only Asian country  in the list, which also includes Sweden, Iceland, Scotland, Germany, USA, Norway, England, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Slovenia, Switzerland, Italy and Netherlands.

For the overall placing, Singapore came in fourth. The champion was Switzerland, followed by Sweden (second) and Norway (third).

For this competition, the team had to compete  in two categories. For the Restaurant of Nations, the team has to prepare a 3-course meal representative of Singapore for 110 guests within 5 hours. The dinner is then served to 110 guests who would have bought tickets to the dinner. Amongst the guests lie ten judges, who dined incognito.

The second category is the  Chef’s Table, where each team has to create a tasting menu comprising of bread and butter, a vegan course, main course to  dessert and petite fours for 12 diners. The table setting and engagement are also factors taken into consideration.

For the past 1.5 years, the Singapore Chefs’ Association has built a stellar Singapore National Culinary Team for the Culinary World Cup and seen them through countless ideation and practice sessions with a panel of competition mentors.  The association, run by volunteers, also raised $250,000 to cover competition expenses.  The time poured into this competition, which includes training and a very complex logistics planning of more than 1 tonne of cargo, exceed more than 4,000 hours.

The team members that represented Singapore are: Kong Kok Kiang (team manager, executive chef of Sentosa Golf Club), Koh Han Jie (team captain, executive chef, Ce Soir), members Aloysius Tay (culinary lecturer at Temasek Polytechnic),  Darren Chin (executive sous chef, SATS), Marvas Ng (executive chef, PATH Dining), Ben Goh (executive pastry chef, Angliss) and Wee Pai Hau (pastry chef, InterContinental Singapore).

Says Team Manager Kong Kok Kiang, “We are incredibly proud of this team. They have shown focus, camaraderie and a fighting spirit that the Singapore National Culinary Team is known for. Those who are there will agree that we only compete with excellence.

 

Read more on their win:

https://www.straitstimes.com/life/food/singapore-chefs-clinch-two-golds-and-fourth-place-at-culinary-world-cup-in-luxembourg

https://www.zaobao.com.sg/lifestyle/food/story20221202-1339684