Armadale Senior High School hosted the 2017 WA best Chef and Sandwich Competition last week, where chefs had three hours to prepare their two best dishes in a MasterChef-like challenge.
It was the third year Clubs WA had run the competition and this year it used Armadale SHS’s new Certificate II-standard hospitality facilities.
Five chefs were challenged on the day to create an entre and a main course as part of a statewide competition.
All food provided was locally produced and chefs needed to use at least one part of every item included to increase the challenge.
Armadale Senior High School VET coordinator Rebecca Ford said the event was a great chance for students to get real world experience.
“Armadale was chosen for this event because our brand new state-of-the-art kitchen was opened this year,” she said.
The kitchen upgrade had been part of a $4.5 million upgrade to the school.
“It’s a fantastic facility with amazing equipment. Everybody said how great it is for a competition like this because there’s space to move around.
“I think the students get a lot out of seeing it being used as a professional kitchen. All of our vocation qualifications are about the workplace and getting students ready for the workplace.
“The kids get to see how it looks for chefs to actually work and how they work, to see how methodical they are.”
Judge for Clubs WA’s Chef of the Year competition David Donavan said Armadale SHS’s facilities were top notch.
“This is probably one of the best kitchen training facilities I’ve seen, full stop,” he said.
He said all food provided was local produce and the innovation displayed in the kitchen was remarkable.
“One of the things I’ve enjoyed seeing is the level of innovation applied to some fairly traditional dishes. I’ve never seen Wellingtons or Arancini presented how I’ve seen it today.”
Final judged scores would be collated from competitions across the state and the final winner would be announced later in the year.
