| It's almost exactly three years to the day since I underwent a six-hour interview ordeal in Victoria, in the hope that I might be admitted onto the NVQ course at Westminster Kingsway College leading to a Professional Chef Diploma. At various times the past three years have been... |
 rewarding |  confusing |
 demanding |  relaxing |
 friendly |  surprising |
 solitary |  gregarious |
 gruelling |  exciting |
 challenging |  and inspiring |
| And if the clock was wound back three years... I'd happily do it all again. Fortunately, I don't need to do that. I'm still a trainee chef, with a huge amount to learn. But as of today I'm a trainee chef with my NVQ3 fully certificated and a Westminster Kingsway College Professional Chef Diploma with Merit. And I'm very proud. |
2007 and moved to Spain, where I trained in Barcelona at Carles Abellan's Comerç 24 (which won its first Michelin star) and Martín Beresategui's Lasarte (which won its second Michelin star) and was chef de partie and later Pastry Chef to Paco Morales at the amazing hotel restaurant Ferrero in the Valèncian mountains. This Spring I returned to London as part of the team of celebrated Portuguese chef Nuno Mendes, opening East End restaurant Viajante. I'm still working with food, but taking a break from fine dining. Passionately pursuing my life-long ambition to become a top-class chef and, one day, a world-famous restaurateur.
13 comments:
Congratulations, Trig - the first big step in a big career I predict and hope
Well done, Trig! It sounds like you're in a great position with your qualification and an excellent first job. I hope you have a fabulous care-free summer before you head off to sunny Spain.
Congratulations, Trig! A proud moment, I'm sure. With your skills and passion for food you'll go very far. When you become a world-famous chef, we can say "we knew you then".
Looking forward to reading about the next chapter of your life.
Congratulations! You have worked long and hard for this diploma and you have every reason to feel proud. Its wonderful that you have managed to continue to find joy in what you are doing - I am too chicken to study to be a chef because I love cooking and am scared that if I do it for a living I will stop enjoying it.
But I am slowly heading in the cooking direction, whether teaching or cooking I don't yet know. Reading your posts gives me hope that maybe I could do it and continue to love it. I hope you will always enjoy what you do
Congrats!
Yey!!! Congratulations, Trig. Well done!
Here's to all the great challenges ahead of you.
I hope your farewell dinner goes well. I'm starting a new job in August so i'm not sure if i can make it. But will let you know if i'm passing by London around then. :)
Great job Trig! It IS a lot of work and you deserve to be proud of your accomplishments. Enjoy the journey.
Congratulations on the certificate, Trig!
Thanks to you all.
It feels really strange waking up knowing that you never have to complete another piece of coursework or sit another exam in your life.
When I started this course, one of the first things they explained was that it wasn't an alternative to academic studies. They were right - some of it was academically tough!
Writing this blog helped a lot, though, especially with my Gastronomy Project report, which took months of research and ran to 10,500 words. I've been given permission to publish this now, so it will be appearing shortly.
And I'll be posting a little surprise item tomorrow. Meantime, thanks again guys.
congrats to you chap!
Congratulations Aiden! It has been a tough programme over the past three years that you have navigated so very well and now you have the skills, knowledge, experience, motivation and qualification to make your mark in this great industry.
Thanks for the inspiring words Mr. Hunter, I'll try my best to make my mark on the industry. The college has put me on the right path and I'll never forget that.
Trig....I haven't been commenting a lot, but I've been keeping up with you. Congratulations on your diploma! I expect to see you up there with Tom Colicchio soon.
Congratulations! What a great achievement - and with merit too. No doubt this will be the start of a stellar career if your commitment up to this point is anything to go by :)
Post a Comment