Hong Kong International Culinary Classic medals for SriLankan Catering

SriLankan Catering performed superbly to win two Silver Medals and a Bronze Medal at the prestigious Hong Kong International Culinary Classic recently.

The achievement was all the more impressive considering that this was the first time SriLankan Catering had entered the global event, and the company was only allowed a team of two persons.

Dilip Nijhawan, CEO of SriLankan Catering, said: “Once again, SriLankan Catering has proven that our company possesses a talented team that maintains the highest standards. The Hong Kong International Culinary Classic is an extremely competitive event, and we were up against the very best in the global culinary industry with chefs  from fine dining restaurants, hotels and flight kitchens.”

Jointly organised by the Hong Kong Chefs Association and Hong Kong Exhibition Services Ltd, the competition from May 13-16 drew 480 participants from more than 50 countries. An international panel of judges from Europe, North America, Australia and Asia evaluated dishes on innovation, kitchen management, taste and hygiene. Each participant had only 75 minutes to prepare a full dish starting from basic ingredients.

Sudhish Pande, Production Manager, said: “The management of SriLankan Catering is intent on providing its staff with international exposure through participation in global competitions, to learn the latest techniques and rub shoulders with the finest in the culinary industry.”

SriLankan Catering has won a number of national and international culinary awards in recent years. These include a prestigious global award in the Food & Beverage category at the Mercury Awards and the aviation industry competition conducted by the International Flight Catering Association. In 2006, SriLankan Catering won its largest ever haul of 11 medals at Culinary Art, the country’s most prestigious competition, which is organized by the Chefs Guild of Sri Lanka.

Allan Orreal, Executive Chef, who accompanied the team to Hong Kong and participated as a judge in events that the SriLankan Catering team did not compete in, said: “Full credit to our boys who worked very hard. This was an excellent effort, and we hope this performance will convince the organizers to allow us a larger team next time.”

The team comprised of George Perera who won a Silver and a Bronze and Susantha Perera who brought home one Silver. Both joined SriLankan Catering four years ago and recently completed the company’s comprehensive 3-year training programme.

SriLankan Catering (Pvt) Limited, which is an ISO 9001:2000 company, is the in-flight catering arm of SriLankan Airlines Group. The company handles in-flight catering for airlines that fly through Colombo, and also operates the restaurants at Bandaranaike International Airport.

SriLankan Catering, which last year commissioned a new state-of-the-art Flight Kitchen at Bandaranaike International Airport at an investment of 25 million US dollars, has a production capacity of 13,000 meals per day.

*An overview of the celebrated SriLankan Airlines Staff who were proclaimed winners at the Hong Kong International Culinary Classic - 2007