By Gregory Poh, Lecturer, Faculty of Hospitality
The subject of Restaurant Management, Introduction to Baking Pastry, and Advance Cooking Restaurant Class required every student to take part in one of their practical roles either in the kitchen or restaurant and run a full fine dining lunch service for the guests. This service was part of their practical exam, a requirement of students’ course lesson plans.
For this semester, the lunch service took place on Tuesday, 29 November 2022, at SEGi College Sarawak Branch Campus Restaurant. The lunch service was starting from 12.00 pm to 2.00 pm. 19 students from Diploma in Hotel Management and Diploma in Culinary Arts took for this subject.
Organising the lunch service is to let the students experience real-life working experience in the industry and do more exposure not only in the classroom but also in the practical session. The student also can gain more knowledge and skills when facing the real guest and the challenges that the student may face in the future.
Lecturers guided the students to learn different knowledge and skills. For the Diploma in Hotel Management students, the students were trained to serve how to serve professional fine dining service. For the Diploma in Culinary Art students, they practised and trained on cooking skills, presentation of food and positioning the correct food position on the plate according to the proper procedure before the real-life exposure and experience on the lunch service practical exam. The students will develop lifelong skills in interpersonal communication, decision making, creativity and leadership from this lunch service.
Each student has been allowed to hold each job profession, including the Food and Beverage department and Kitchen department, to participate in the practical class. Following their restaurant theme, the student created the restaurant atmosphere and environment following their own theme according to their creativity.
For this semester, Christmas has Arrived Early at SEGi College Sarawak, and the theme chosen for the lunch service was ‘Christmas’. The student was also allowed to create their own mocktail and menu to serve to the guest.
13 guests joined for this lunch service. We are pleased to have all the guests taking their time to join the lunch service prepared by the student. The guests were served a delicious and tasty four-course meal, a special mocktail and concluded the serving with coffee or tea.
The appetiser was Seaweed Taco followed by Roasted Carrot & Cauliflower Soup served with Garlic Bread. As for the main course, there were two menus to choose from. The non-vegetarian guests were served Chicken Breast wrap with Beef Bacon and Pesto Filling, and the Vegetarian guests were served Balsamic Mustard Baked Tempeh. There was Passion Fruit Panna Cotta for dessert, and a special mocktail of Christmas Sweety Spice followed by Coffee or Tea.
Overall, the lunch service ran smoothly. The students have gained knowledge, skills, and exposure on how to serve the guest with professional fine dining serving and according to the correct procedure. The student and the guest were having a great time.
