Anchor Food Professionals has long been providing New Zealand’s well-known brand, Anchor dairy products to the Malaysian foodservice industry. AFP is also dedicated in fostering the development of local bakery and HORECA channels, via product innovation and recipe creations. Thus, AFP is once again doing their bid to raise the benchmark, provide a platform for experience and knowledge sharing, and uplift the professional standards in the industry by organizing the highly anticipated Anchor Food Professionals Pastry & Culinary Challenge 2018.

Anchor Food Professionals Pastry & Culinary Challenge 2018

Held at KDU University College @ Utropolis Glenmarie, this is the 3rd Challenge organized for the industry by Anchor Food Professionals, and the first to feature a Culinary Challenge (to involve the Hot Cooking chefs). Previous winners have had a chance to compete in Fonterra’s global competitions held in Australia, thus giving them a priceless international exposure to further elevate their standards as chefs. The Challenge spanned for 4 days starting from 13 March until 16 March based on 3 categories: Culinary, Cake and Pastries. Culinary and Pastry maestros have been invited to form the luminary panel of judges.

Panel of Judges for Anchor Food Professionals Pastry & Culinary Challenge 2018:

• Chef Jean Francois Arnaud (Head Judge – Pastry)
• Chef Nazeri Ismail (Pastry)
• Chef Arthur Heng (Pastry)
• Chef Gerhard Albrecht (Head Judge – Culinary)
• Chef Fami Taufeq (Culinary)
• Chef Sabri Hassan (Culinary)

According to Linda Tan, Director of Anchor Food Professionals, competitions like this are important for the industry as it provides a platform for the sharing of experience and knowledge, nurturing the potential of Malaysia’s future culinary and pastry artisans and elevating the standards of the food & beverage industry.

“As the country’s largest provider of high-quality dairy products and ingredients, we are constantly engaging with chefs and in the course of our work have discovered so much hidden potential within. Some have carved a name for themselves and some are gems waiting to be uncovered. We felt it was our duty to explore, nurture and celebrate the amazing number of young chefs in this country who can reach greater heights with the right encouragement,” Linda explained. There are 3 categories (Culinary, Cake and Pastries) for 4 different channels:

• Best Pastries – Bakery Channel (13 March) – 4 finalists
• Best Cake – Bakery Channel (14 March) – 8 finalists
• Best Cake – Hotel Channel (15 March) – 8 finalists
• Best Culinary – Hotel Channel (16 March) – 7 finalists

I was personally there to witness the Best Cake – Hotel Channel segment on 15th March. Using Anchor’s leading products in the diary segment namely Anchor Cream Cheese, Anchor Butter Sheet, Anchor Butter, Anchor UHT Milk, Anchor Whipping Cream, and Anchor Extra Yield Cooking Cream, participants were required to prepare 2 types of cakes using different compositions whereby each recipe must contain at least a total of 30% Anchor Whipping Cream and Anchor Cream Cheese to the total cake weight. The 2 types of cakes that they need to prepare were 1 mango-themed whole cake (weight within 800gm – 1000gm) and 1 strawberry-themed individual cake (80 – 100gm). Winning the category is a proud badge of recognition amongst peers and gives a leg-up to finalists as Anchor Food Professionals Pastry & Culinary Challenge is highly regarded in the industry and is steered by a panel of judges considered the best in the industry. Prizes for each category includes:

• 1st Prize Gold – Prizes worth RM5,000 + Trophy + Certificate
• 2nd Prize Silver – Prizes worth RM3,000 + Trophy + Certificate
• 3rd Prize Bronze – Prizes worth RM2,000 + Trophy + Certificate

Winners for Best Cake – Hotel channel:

1. Gold – Gan Terk Yeong from Sofitel Kuala Lumpur Damansara

   

    

   

    

   

2. Silver – Nyon Pei Shan from Intercontinental Kuala Lumpur

   

    

   

    

   

3. Bronze – Tan Shong Yee from Double Tree by Hilton KL

   

    

   

    

   

For updates about Anchor Food Professionals Malaysia, kindly visit their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AnchorFoodProfessionalsMY