Sydney , 14th November 2007 

Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre chefs have taken out the gold medal in the Sydney Culinary Challenge for the third consecutive time.

 The Centre’s service staff also picked up a silver medal for their efforts in the Culinary Challenge’s ‘front of house’ competition, which involved serving their chefs’ gourmet meal to 30 guests. No gold medal was awarded in this category. 

Conducted as part of the recent Fine Food Fair held at the Centre, the Sydney Culinary Challenge is a highly regarded competition, overseen by a panel of expert judges. 

Announcing the Centre’s achievements, the Centre’s Chief Executive Ton van Amerongen paid tribute to the Centre’s staff and their high standards. 

“These awards are an honour which confirm our focus on attention to detail, top-class service and exceptional cuisine,” Mr van Amerongen said. 

The Kraft Philadelphia Kitchen Restaurant Challenge requires teams of three chefs, one of whom must be an apprentice, to prepare a restaurant-style meal meeting rigorous guidelines and a strict time limit. 

In only 2.5 hours, the Centre’s team of chefs - Christian Huegel, Kazi Hassan and 3rd Year Apprentice Rachel Quigley – created an outstanding menu that featured tomato gazpacho with basil oil, terrine of rainbow trout and roasted venison with polenta gnocchi, white asparagus, salsify and game jus. Their win represents a hat-trick for the venue, which also won the biennial event in 2003 and 2005.

 The Kraft Philadelphia Front of House challenge involves teams of three wait staff who are judged across a range of areas including table settings, serving, sequence of serving and communication with the kitchen. 

The silver medallists from the Centre were An-Li Tsai, Melanie Chong and Adel Gizzi.