I love to eat but I don't exactly love to cook.I have always been in awe of the wonderful men and women who are able to whip up such excellent meals effortlessly. Hindi ko talaga talent ang pagluluto. My grandmother on my father side was Spanish and she could whip up delightful and calorie-laden dishes at the drop of a hat. My mother's cooking repertoire leaves much to be desired. Heck mommy can inhibit any character and boy can she act! As for her culinary prowess? Next question please. The kitchen was more my father and our mayordoma's kingdom. As for me, I can, and do cook once in a while, and on the times that I do, the kids and H appear pleased with the effort and the finished product. My family's culinary hopes lie in P - our "kicking chef and psychiatrist-to-be."
However, I digress...
One evening a few weeks ago, H and I had dinner at Restaurant 101, the training restaurant, if you may call it that, of Enderun College. The place where Restaurant 101 (and Enderun College) sits used to be the famous Le Souffle in Ortigas which has now moved to the Rockwell Club in Makati. It was a great pleasure to be served by the very young, pleasantand good-looking International Hospitality Management students of Enderun. Joining us during dinner was Tricia Tensuan, Enderun College's smart and very charming Marketing Director.
Fabulous Enderun Lobby
Prior to a lovely dinner (my friend and blogmate, the famous Anton, did a great review of Restaurant 101) Tricia toured us around the school and I was simply amazed by what I saw. First there are the classrooms that are truly impressive! Suddenly there was a part of me that wanted to take up a course if only to be able to sit in those beautiful classrooms!
Get on a culinary flight... Some of the classrooms look like airport lounges!
H pretending to be professor
Enderun's carefully crafted program of study leads to a Bachelor's Degree in International Hospitality Management (BS-IHM). Students are given the option of pursuing one of two major areas of study: Hotel Administration or Culinary Arts. The Enderun curriculum strikes a unique balance between classroom training and real-world experience. Six semesters are spent on the Enderun campus amd two semesters of practical internship in Enderun's partner establishments all over the world. The internships give students the opportunity to buttress classroom perspectives with real world experience, and to contribute new insights when they return to the classroom. Enderun's roster of industry partners includes some of the world's leading hospitality organizations, encompassing over 40 hotel companies comprising of over 150 hotels and restaurants around the world!
Does your kitchen look like this?
The Ortigas campus occupies two floors of the Wynsum Corporate Plaza in the Ortigas Central Business District. The college enrolled it's first full Freshman class in June 2006, and will gradually scale its enrollment to more than 2000 students by 2010. The current Wynsum capmus features state-of-the-art audiovisual equipment, a fully articulated wireless network, world-class demonstration laboratories for culinary studemts, an ample library, a host of meeting rooms, a beautiful student lounge that overlooks the Ortigas center, and a beautifully appointed teaching restaurant that is Restaurant 101.
Soon, Enderun College will be moving in to a sprawling 1.7-hectare campus that will have classical European buildings anchored by a sleek, modern culinary center that is expected to be ready for SY 2007-2008. Enderun has partnered with Alain Ducasse Formation to design and operate this new culinary center, which will feature Asia’s most distinguished culinary faculty, and which will offer Enderun students the opportunity to master cutting-edge culinary principles and techniques, after foundational training in the classical European tradition. Alain Ducasse is France’s most celebrated chef, and the only chef within the Michelin guide to have held a three star ranking (the top ranking) in three different countries.
Tricia shares that the current campus will still be maintained but used for other more specialized courses.
Enderun College has entered into an academic partnership with Les Roches Swiss Hotel Association of Hotel Management that allows Enderun students to earn Certificates in International Hospitality Operations from Les Roches, as they study for their bachelor's degrees in International Hospitality Management at Enderun. The Les Roches Swiss Hotel Association School of Hotel Management is among the world's most prestigious and highly respected hospitality management schools.
The Les Roches certificate program is FULLY integrated into the Enderun curriculum, and allows Enderun students, who pass a qualifying exam to gain Les Roches' certification after only two years of study. After earning the certificate, hospitality management students have the option of completing their four-year degrees at Enderun, or of transferring to Les Roches' campuses in Switzerland or Marbella, Spain, and earning their degrees in Europe. Thus, it is only at Enderun where students can gain a recognized international credential from one of the world's best-known hospitality management schools after only two years, while studying in the Philippines.
In addition to a world-class campus, and a partnership with Les Roches, Enderun's esteemed faculty is nothing to scoff at. Lead by College Dean, Dr. Lorraine Villanueva, who was a faculty member of the Department of Hotel, Restaurant, and Institution Management (HRIM) of the College of Home Economics (CHE) at the University of the Philippines in Diliman (UPD), where she taught in both the graduate and undergraduate programs, as well as handled curriculum development and review. Then there is Chef See Cheong Yan, who is the Culinary Head at Enderun Colleges. He graduated from Les Roches in Switzerland with a Diploma in Hotel and Restaurant Management. Chef See earned his Certificate in Business Administration, with honors, from Washington State University. View this link to see the full roster of Enderun's faculty.
In addition to his education credentials, Chef See has 19 years worth of experience in the field of culinary arts worldwide having worked at the Kempinski Hotel & Traders Hotel in China and at Bahnhofbuffet SBB Basel in Switzerland among others. In the Philippines, Chef See has led the kitchen operations of Edsa Shangri-la, Hyatt Regency Manila and Tagaytay Highlands. Truly an international citizen, Chef See speaks English, Bahasa Malaysia, Cantonese, Mandarin, French and Filipino fluently.
The un-barefoot contessa with Chef See and Tricia
Too bad Enderun was not yet in exsistence back in 1982 when I had just graduated from high school. Perhaps, if there was something like this back then, I would muster all of my culinary genes - my Spanish grandmother was a kitchen goddess - and put them to good use. Who knows, maybe I would have given Nigella Lawson a run for her money :) Then again, perhaps I was really destined for other things and being a Nigella or a Barefoot Contessa ain't one of them.
Next Up -- BEVERLY HILLS Comes to Makati, and no, honey, it's not the one you're thinking about...
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