Rüya Dubai’s chef Collin Clague nominated for The Best Chef Awards 2017 Colin Clague, executive chef of the home grown Anatolian restaurant, Rüya at Grosvenor House Dubai, has been nominated for the Best Chef Awards, to be hosted in Warsaw on October 25 this year. Culinary maverick Colin, who has taken on the mission to elevate and polish Anatolian cuisine on a global scale, is shortlisted for the Top 300 World Selection. This prestigious accolade identifies the best chefs in the industry worldwide whilst the voting system is based on votes of chefs, journalists and professionls in the international culinary sector. For more information, see thebestchefawards.com.
Cream cheese developments Fonterra’s foodservice business, Anchor Food Professionals, has launched a new soft style cream cheese to provide more versatility and convenience for its foodservice customers in the Middle East. According to the company, The Anchor Food Professionals Soft Style Cream Cheese offers a richer cream cheese flavour, better bake stability and softer texture, and is part of Anchor Food Professionals’ strategy to capitalise on changing consumer trends in the Middle East including a shift towards premiumisation. Alastair Bruce, General Manager, GCC for Anchor Food Professionals, said: “With rising incomes and rapid growth of out-of-home dining, food and beverage operators are increasingly seeking premium dairy solutions to meet the demand for excellence, convenience and great taste – but at the same time, affordability. We’ve developed our new Soft Style Cream Cheese especially for the Middle East region, to meet local chefs’ preferences to work with a softer style of cream cheese without losing its full dairy flavour.” Anchor Soft Style Cream Cheese is manufactured locally in Fonterra’s Dammam manufacturing facility, which also enables shorter delivery times to its customers.
CIA to teach Insta skills Come May 2018, one of the world’s most prestigious cooking schools, the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), will offer two new courses that focus on food photography and food styling, according to a report in The New York Times. With alumni including the likes of Grant Achatz, Anthony Bourdain and Roy Choi, CIA’s future students will be taught camera and lighting skills, shot composition and cooking tricks to make their plates more visually appealing and ‘Instagrammable’ on social media platforms. The aim of the new courses is also to provide students with certain skills should they choose a food career away from the kitchen, such as in food education or media.
S.Pellegrino Young Chef Award event comes to Dubai For the first time, Dubai will host the Africa & Middle East semifinal event for S.Pellegrino Young Chef Award, one of most coveted awards for young professionals in the culinary industry. On October 16, 2017 ten semi-finalists from the Africa & Middle East region will compete at International Centre for Culinary Arts in Dubai for entry to the grand finale. Representing the UAE, chef Aditya Kumar Jha from Tamba Abu Dhabi, chef Mario Christianto from The Exchange Grill Restaurant in Dubai and chef Nigel Lobo at The Eloquent Elephant are among the top 10 semifinalists from the region. Other semi-finalists from the Africa & Middle East’s region include: sous chef Jorge Alexis Falcon Valera from Cantina Kahlo in Bahrain; and from South Africa chef de partie Ianca Stryom at The Restaurant at Waterkloof, chef de partie Garth Rauben Heimer, The Restaurant at Waterkloof, sous chef Georgios Spandos from Palm Hotel & Spa, chef de partie Paul Prinsloo at The Restaurant at Waterkloof, chef Sheldon Raju from Sheldon Raju Cosultancy in South Africa and sous chef Vusumi Ndlovu from The Saxon Hotel Villas and SPA. For more information, please visit sanpellegrino.com.
Autumn 2017 / The Pro Chef Middle East
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