The first work attachment which kickstarted my F&B career

First 3 months in at-sunrice, Mondays to Fridays 8 - 5 pm, weekends off as usual. It's time to start internship. I got my letter to go for an interview at Senso located at Club Street, so OK I went down, chatted with the head chef for less than 5 minutes and finished. A few days later my chef instructor told me that Senso has rejected me because another student who's graduating soon will be hired as a permament staff. Most of my other classmates have their placements confirmed, leaving me with no place. I was left in suspense for a while. Another letter came, this time to go to il Lido at Sentosa with another classmate. We went there, filled up the employment form and the executive sous chef, a Hong Konger, chatted with us for a while. 2nd term starts and we're confirmed working at il Lido: Italian Restaurant & Bar! This is where my adventure begins.

To cut the long story short, I'll talk about the memorable moments. I was posted to pastry section for 3 months, did meat for 1 month, and then pasta for the last 2 months (actually making fresh pasta for 3 months, 1 month doing meat was during evening service only). Sure I got my fair share of scoldings, but it's all in the name of work. I had to get used to the long hours and no weekends. Good thing I'm easily adaptable to different environments. The people there are generally good, they're willing to teach us newbies. In return, we give our best or at least try.

Some memorable moments: It was Valentine's Day and only the pastry chef and me were doing the desserts for that evening. il Lido has 2 kitchens, one downstairs and one upstairs. Since there's not enough space to store our desserts in the fridge, we had to store some in the kitchen downstairs. I was the runner that day, running up and down to replenish the desserts and plating them to send out to those lovey dovey couples enjoying themselves. Had a good exercise. Come to think about it, I wonder how they enjoy their time together when it's so crowded and every couple is pretty much sitting near each other. That night, I was the last cook to leave the kitchen. I reached home at 1.30 am.

There was a reservation for 8 people on a Sunday night. It wasn't busy that night. My classmate and I were in charge of the dessert station since our pastry chef wasn't around. This group finally came, and our restaurant manager asks our executive chef to go out and meet these people. So OK our EC went out, chatted with them and came back to tell us, "OK we got to do a special menu for STING AND THE POLICE!" Woah we were like WOW! Our meat cook got really excited and hyped up. 8 appetizers, 8 pasta, 7 fish 1 meat, read the captain's order. 8 appetizers went out, followed by 8 pasta dishes. All the same but not on the menu. Then it came to the main course. The fish cook has to do 7 portions, the meat cook only has to do 1. Fish cook does up his 7 portions and finished, the meat cook is still doing his 1 portion (all main course dishes have to be served out at the same time). Fish cook scolds meat cook for being so slow, meat cook retorts back saying this is for Sting and the Police, not for some Tom, Dick and Harry. Main course goes out, but not before the meat cook reminding the waiter to not let anything on HIS meat dish fall down and spoil the plating. A while later, the meat dish came back, it was not cooked to the desired doneness! Everyone laughs at the meat cook so hard! When it came to dessert time, we just plated some sorbet for them, no special decorations whatsoever. They ordered twice, the sorbet must be really good!

I finally went into hot side i.e. the meat station first and then the pasta station later. Seared foie gras & steaks and cooked pasta. Sure it's hot and the pace is very fast, adrenaline is at peak at this time. Over at pasta station, I discovered a passion for making fresh pasta - both noodles (tagliolinni, tagliatelle, papadelle etc.) and stuffed pasta (ravioli, pansotti etc.). It was here that I enjoyed my work most, no one disturbs me, I can quietly fold the pasta with sound only coming out of the pasta machine. I had a great teacher who taught me well :)

My mum came with a friend for lunch, my sister and her friend came on another occasion. I served them special desserts with some sugar decorations to end off their great experience. Nice!

My last day at il Lido was bittersweet. On one hand I was happy to go, on the other I had to say goodbye to people who shaped and moulded me during those eventful 6 months. I gave my resume to the executive chef, if he wants to hire me, I'll gladly work for him. It was the il Lido experience which kickedstarted my F&B career, and it was here that I found a niche for myself. I would love to continue making fresh pasta. The taste is just awesome!