The crème de la crème of Taiwan’s top chefs were treated to a taste of South Auckland earlier this week, including haka lessons from All Black kapa haka teacher Ngāti Raukawa.
Visiting Auckland for the International 2017 New Zealand Master Chef challenge, the 40-strong group ditched their aprons to spend one of their final days in the country at Manukau’s Ignite Colleges, where students and staff dished up some of the best New Zealand has to offer. The ‘taste of New Zealand’ event was managed by Ignite’s Level 3 and 4 hospitality students, and included wine tasting with Villa Maria, beer making with Williamswarn Beer and a traditional hangi.
“We wanted to show the chefs some aspects of the Kiwi lifestyle that they may not yet have experienced,” said Ignite Colleges general manager and one of the Master Chef judges, Jasbir Kaur.
“In the week that they were in New Zealand the chefs spent a lot of time cooking and competing, so we thought it would be nice to farewell them with something a bit different. They absolutely loved it – especially the haka and the beer making!”
In fact, the Taiwanese chefs enjoyed the visit so much that they are already hatching plans to come back to Ignite Colleges in October, for the grand opening of the provider’s state-of-the-art new cookery school.
