[Gulf Goans] FRANKY IS THE SPICE OF THE MOMENT

Fri, 06 Aug 2004 23:36:43 -0700

FRANKY IS THE SPICE OF THE MOMENT
BY ANUPAMA V. CHAND

Over 500 chefs from hotels in Dubai competed in various culinary competitions last week, and for the second consecutive year, a Burj Al Arab chef won the coveted 'Junior Chef of the Year' award at the Emirates Culinary Guild Competitions 2004.

Organised by the Emirates Culinary Guild (ECG) during the Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS) Sweet Surprises Week, under the auspices of the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), the competition tested the talents of the contestants in different culinary disciplines. the Jumeirah International culinary team scoped a total of 50 medals out of a total of 50 entries, with the hotel chain's chefs winning five gold medals, 14 silver medals, 18 bronze medals, and as many as 13 merit certificates. In addition, the team also received a Top Nomination for 'Best Corporate Team', and Burj Al Arab was voted Best Hotel in Dubai, which according to hotel authorities, represented the award for best effort by a single hotel.

City Times caught up with Chef de Partie at the Burj, Franky Godinho, to find out  what the competition was all about, and to what he attributed his success at the event.

"The participation is all about exhibiting your culinary skills, and chefs from all over the UAE participate in this competition. It is a unique opportunity to compete with and learn from other professional chefs. It also demonstrates where Dubai is going in terms of culinary development in the future, and with so many hotels we have a definite edge," said Godinho, who is 25 years old, and has worked in the hospitality industry for nine years. He noted that the ECG is the UAE's association of professsional chefs, and is a non-profit body dedicated solely to the development of the culinary art in the UAE.  A member of the World Association of Cooks Societies (WACS) - a 52 nation fellowship, comprising the world's various professional chefs' organisations, the main aims of the ECG are to encourage and inspire junior chefs through training and competition, enhance internationally the culinary prestige of the UAE, and encourage UAE nationals to consider a career within the hospitality industry.

When asked to what he attributed his success, young Godinho said he wanted to thank his colleagues at Burj Al Arab, who worked very hard as a team with him to make this triumph possible.

He said the competition was pretty tough this year, with a record 25 upper-end hotels from Dubai's booming hospitality industry throwing their inspirational support behind the DTCM venture.

"A lot of talented chefs participated in this year's competition from many of the hotels in the UAE, things were on a sufficiently large scale," he noted.

An eternal Goan at heart, Franky noted that his favourite dishes included Goa's Prawn Pilaf, Chicken Caprial and Vindalo.

Confident that his experience of working with one of thee top 50 hotels in the world would greatly embellish his portfolio of achievements, and give him the benefit of international experience, Godinho averred that such competitions were a boon to amateur and also young chefs like himself, and hoped that one day he could use the experience to branch off on his own, and establish an eatery of repute.

He added that the great thing about working at hotels like Burj Al Arab, was that the team was constantly expected to perform and prove its competence.

"We have a great team and we continually strive to improve ourselves, so thats improvement," he smiled.

And who was his biggest inspiration to becoming a Chef?

"My mother was a big inspiration for me to become a chef!" said the young man from Goa.

Commenting on his achievement, Luc Delafosse, General Manager of the hotel said: "We are very proud of Franky's achievement, this only goes to show how commited not only Burj Al Arab, but also Jumeirah International is about striving to be the best, the various awards won by our chefs last week recognise the talent and creativity of our colleagues."


http://www.khaleejtimes.com/Displayarticle.asp?section=citytimes&xfile=data/citytimes/2004/july/citytimes_july88.xml

- Forwarded by Gasper Ameida, www.goa-world.com



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