Professional Culinary Arts students of the Magsaysay Center for Hospitality and Culinary Arts (MIHCA) were hailed as the Ultimate Chef Warriors in the Chef Wars competition at the recently concluded 10th National Food Showdown held last October 19-21, 2016 at the Camp John Hay, Baguio City, Philippines.
Chef Wars, considered the main event of the National Food Showdown, is a 60-minute live cooking contest. MIHCA’s winning trio—Carla Felize C. Cruz, Prince Jeffrey C. Tan and Jaime Bañas—represented Team Luzon and bested the groups of Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and Spa of Team Visayas and Monster Kitchen Academy of Team Mindanao. Team Luzon was supported and coached by MIHCA Instructors, Chef Mike S. Navarra and Chef Joan D. Pineda.
MIHCA students prepared a 3-course masterpiece with shrimp as the main ingredient—Anchovy Glazed Shrimp set on Vanilla Scented Beignets, Open Face Thermidor, Salad, Calamansi Emulsion, Potato Leek Soup and Herb Soil as hot appetizer; Shrimp Flan with Calamansi Gelée, Herb Marinated Shrimp, Pickled Vegetables, Coral and Mango Aioli as cold appetizer; and Shrimp and Lapu-Lapu Roulade, Potato Fritters, Root Vegetables with Bacon Beurre Blanc with Chive Oil as the main course.
A member of the Magsaysay People Resources Corporation, MIHCA is at the forefront of training and producing job-ready professionals in the fields of hospitality, tourism and culinary arts. MIHCA has three campuses in the Philippines—Manila, Makati and Cebu—and a campus in Jakarta, Indonesia. Each campus houses state-of-the-art facilities including kitchen laboratories, bars and fine dining restaurants, mock-up hotel rooms and cruise cabins.