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HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Amber has always been a restaurant that piqued my interest.
 
Back when I was freshman, I had a professor who would talk to us about this restaurant that we all had to visit in Hong Kong. As a young and naive culinary student, I instantly took out a piece of paper and jotted down the name of the restaurant. That was the first time that I heard about Amber.
How It All Began
Getting the Internship

GETTING THE INTERNSHIP

Three years and an internship later, I was looking for my second internship. When the Office of Career Services presented to us the list of properties offered that January 2018, Amber was on the top of my list.

 

I had to go through the normal process of internship application, such as the online Skype interviews and the exchanging of emails. A week or two later, I finally received my acceptance letter from the The Landmark, Mandarin Oriental.

Being a Trainee

BEING A TRAINEE

As a trainee, the focus of my position was to simply learn and do things well. This does not necessarily mean that I played a smaller role in the overall picture. Every little detail counts and makes a difference.

 

Even though I simply held onto the “trainee” status, this was not an excuse for me to push myself and to deliver nothing but the best. 

THE FIRST DAY

Since I was simply told to show up on my first day, I came into work with mixed feelings of excitement to nervousness. I was excited because I was finally going to be able to work in Amber. For the most part, I was nervous because of what I have yet to know.

 

Unlike my first internship, I did not start off my training with a proper orientation. I would find myself wondering about a lot of things, from what the workload would be to would my colleagues be nice. 

My Responsibilities

My responsibilities

During my internship, I was able to experience working in two different sections in Amber. I spent my first month and a half in the Pass. The remaining few months were spent in the Cold Kitchen.

THE pass

My first station was the Pass. My responsibilities included the mise en place of the herbs for plating and getting the trays during service. I found myself adjusting to the work environment fairly well. Towards the end of the week, I was able to get a good grasp of what goes on during the service and their expectations of me.

 

I experienced a steep learning curve during my first week. Coming from a previous semester that was purely spent in the classroom, I had to learn to adjust to the culture of the kitchen. The first day of work was quite challenging because I had to absorb a lot of information right away. 

 

Being sectioned by the Pass, I had to familiarise myself with the various types of herbs and which dishes they would belong to. With every service, I find myself organising the multiple containers in order for me to easily reach for them when a dish would be fired. I would also prepare the tedious orders in advance, such as those for multiple guests or dishes that required several types of herbs.

THE COLD KITCHEN

My second rotation was in the Cold Kitchen.

 

My responsibilities include doing things for Amber and In Room Dining. 

 

For In Room Dining, I was in charge of keeping check of several ingredients and preparing a few orders, such as salads and sandwiches. For Amber, I had to manage the daily mise en place for my station and doing service. My responsibilities included some of the canapés and some dishes (the oyster, foie gras terrine, langoustine, kohlrabi, and caviar tart).

Learning how to balance the demands of In Room Dining during lunch or dinner service could was quite the challenge from. I am dealing with this situation by making sure that I have enough enough mise en place and equipment ready, in order that these things are easily within my reach when needed. 

 

I am learning the importance of having the proper mise en place because it easily dictates how my day is going to go, such as always having an allowance with the things that I need to prep in order to save time.

The Opportunities

the opportunities

Working in Amber gave me the chance to work with chefs from other countries through their Four Hands Dinners. These dinners are a collaboration between Amber and another restaurant wherein we offer guests one special menu for one or two nights. 

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During my training, I was able to experience two of these Four Hands Dinners with Chef Rodolfo Guzmán of Boragó and Chef Kenichiro Yamauchi from Japan Yamauchi. It was a nice learning experience to see how they worked and to taste their food.

The Challenges

the CHALLENGES

For me, my biggest challenge was dealing with my lack of confidence. Ever since, I have always been mindful of coming off as arrogant or egotistical, but that usually ends up as people perceiving me as a shy person. I have realised that confidence comes from experience and doing things repetitively. I simply like to make sure that I understand what needs to be done in order to perform what needs to be done correctly and confidently.

 

I have also had my fair share of frustrations from my colleagues. I am realising that this internship has also been teaching me a lot about how to work and deal with different people. For example, someone has this tendency to be tactless with their words. One day, he'll say that I'm the best trainee, but the following day, I'd be the worst and compare me to the previous trainee who was supposedly "the best." As a trainee, I feel like I have no choice but to shoulder most of the blame. I can honestly say that I overcoming this obstacle by simply striving to do my best everyday, despite the fact that some might fail to realise my efforts. 

Enderun

ENDERUN

I believe Enderun has helped me prepare for my internship. It was not simply because of the classes I took, but it was because of the experiences that the school offered. From being at working student in Restaurant 101 to being able to be a stagiaire at a local restaurant after my classes, Enderun has been helping me prepare for my future ever since I first entered the campus.

The Future

THE future

My experience in Amber is making me realise my priorities and that pursuing a career in fine dining involves a whole lot of sacrifice - from working an average of 14 hours for almost everyday, being away from loved ones, and continuously getting criticised at work. 

 

At the end of the day, I can still myself pursuing a career in the culinary industry, but it just may or may not be spent in a fancy Michelin-starred establishment.

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