ACCLAIMED CHEF ADDS SPICE TO COOK-OFF
A WORLD-RENOWNED culinary master has been schooling young apprentices on the Gold Coast this week as part of a MasterChef-style cook-off.
Two-hatted executive chef Paul Carmichael, from Sydney restaurant Momofuku Seiobo, treated six talented culinary apprentices from The Star Entertainment Group to a masterclass at Cucina Vivo before the final of the The Star Culinary Institute’s Apprentice Chef of the Year competition.
The six finalists included Coral Carmody and Malis Pau — first-year culinary apprentices from The Star Gold Coast who beat 18 other locals to make the cut — with The Star Sydney apprentice Samantha Levett declared the winner.
Chef Carmichael shared an original recipe and insights into authentic Creole cooking with the apprentices before judging the taste and presentation portion of the final competition at Palm Beach Currumbin High School.
Originally from the island of Barbados, Chef Carmichael graduated from the Culinary Institute of America, working in kitchens in the US and Puerto Rico before joining the Momofuku Ma Peche team in New York in 2010.
He moved to Australia in 2015 to become executive chef of Momofuku Seiobo in The Star entertainment complex in Sydney — the group’s first restaurant outside of New York.