Promoting Hospitality as a career of choice, a profession, and a vocation. Young Chef Young Waiter Macao is a competition open to all young professional waiters and chefs from any background working in the Macao restaurant sector.
The Young Chef Young Waiter competition was established in 1979 in the UK and is organised by The Nth Degree Global in partnership with UKHospitality and the Restaurant Association, to promote hospitality as a career of choice, a profession, and a vocation.
World Young Chef Young Waiter Macao was launched in 2022 to extend the competition around the globe where the World Final happened at The Maybourne Riviera in November 2022.
Judges for Young Chef Young Waiter Macao include Vishal Vishwanath Apte, Hans Rasmussen, Mathieu Gaignon, Perry Yuen, Edwyn Tam and Luis Heredia.
WHY ENTER WORLD YOUNG CHEF YOUNG WAITER
The aim of World Young Chef Young Waiter is simple: to uncover the very best young talent in our industry and help equip them with relevant skills, current knowledge and the network needed to succeed in the world of hospitality. Devised by respected professionals, the competition has a fresh modern approach that focuses on tasks and criteria that are challenging, educational and fun.
World Young Chef Young Waiter showcases all aspects of hospitality. Inspiring, empowering and inclusive, most of all we celebrate the capabilities and diversity of our amazing industry.
Many past winners have gone on to achieve huge success in hospitality and YCYW proudly supports the future stars in Britain’s kitchens and restaurants. Winners and judges have included some the industry’s great recognisable names to include – Mark Sargeant, Marcus Wareing, Simon King, John Torode, Annie and Germain Schwab, Jeremy King, Raymond Blanc OBE, Heston Blumenthal OBE, The Earl of Bradford, Lord Forte, Angela Hartnett MBE, Simon Girling and Fred Sirieix.
ENTER YOUNG CHEF WORLD YOUNG WAITER MACAO TODAY
Being part of the World Young Chef Young Waiter of the Year is a once in a lifetime experience. A chance for competitors to test their proficiency and progress their careers whilst learning, building new relationships, and developing their potential and most of all, World Young Chef Young Waiter is fantastic fun!
World Young Chef Young Waiter showcases all aspects of hospitality. Inspiring, empowering, and inclusive, most of all we celebrate the capabilities and diversity of our amazing industry.
You are the leaders of the future. It’s your incredible expertise that WYCYW commends. Be sure to join us for the Macao competition in 2024.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF FOOD AND BEVERAGE ACADEMY AT WYNN - CHIEF ARCHITECT MACAU
David Wong is the Executive Director of the Food and Beverage Academy at Wynn where he is responsible for both properties Wynn Palace and Wynn Macau for training and development in Food & Beverage for 4 restaurants with 7 Michelin Stars.
David is also the founder of the Macau Culinary Association and after completing his City & Guilds for the Hospitality industry in the UK has worked in France with Jean Bordier, London with Anton Mosimann, in Padstow with Rick Stein, the Mandarin Oriental in Macau, the Banyan Tree Bangkok and now with Wynn Resorts, Macau.
Before he joined Wynn, David was at the Institute for Tourism Studies Macao (IFTM), a hotel and culinary school where he achieves his MA Hospitality Management from Birmingham University, UK and was the EAM – Food & Beverage, he taught culinary studies and wines, he is a certified Wines of Portugal Educator and also an approved tutor for the Wine and Institution Trust, UK (WSET).
CITY OF DREAMS - YOUNG CHEFS CHIEF JUDGE
Perry Yuen is the Vice President of F&B at the City of Dream Macau and has been working in the industry over 40 years. he has participated in many competitions and won many prestige awards when he was a chef in Hong Kong.
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With his outstanding performance he was assigned as approved International Judge by World Association of Cook Society (WACS) since 1996, he has judge in Asia, Middle East and America for the past 26 years.
He was the Ex-President of Hong Kong Chefs Association 2003-2007 and the Ex-President of Macau Culinary Association 2017-2021. His vision is to build up the skill of young chefs to reach International standard.
THE EDUCATIONAL RESTAURANT - YOUNG CHEFS JUDGE
Hans Rasmussen graduated in 2003 from Copenhagen Hospitality College, Denmark. Shortly after, he landed a job at Restaurationen, owned by Bo and Lisbeth Jacobsen, where he learned classical Danish and French cuisine.
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In 2014 he moved back to his roots in Macao, China, and is currently the Executive Chef at the IFTM Educational restaurant. In 2021 he completed an MBA with distinction from the University of Aberdeen to further support his career in the hospitality industry.
The Educational restaurant has maintained its Bib gourmand status since 2013 and received Macao’s first Michelin Green star in 2020
INSTITUTE FOR TOURISM STUDIES - YOUNG CHEFS JUDGE
Vishal is a Culinary Educator from Macau Institute for Tourism Studies for International cuisine. Vishal is experienced with the world-renowned hospitality institute Les Roches as a Culinary Instructor. read more Vishal has had comprehensive knowledge of the food industry for more than 14 years. He is Well-versed in numerous hotels such as Andaz By Hyatt London, Hyatt Capital Gate Abu Dhabi, Hyatt Regency Gurugram, Oberoi Hotels Mumbai, and Saudi Airlines Jeddah as a professional chef.
MACAO INSTITUTE FOR TOURISM STUDIES (IFTM) - YOUNG CHEF JUDGE
Dr. Ng is an Assistant Professor and the coordinator for Culinary Arts Management at the Macao Institute for Tourism Studies (IFTM).
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She spent more than ten years in the United States and received a B.S. in Business Administration, major in Marketing, M.S. in Hospitality Administration, and Ph.D. in Hospitality Administration at the Oklahoma State University.
She has taught courses in Food Safety and Sanitation, Introduction to Professional Food Preparation, Principals of Marketing, Research Methodology, and Integrated Marketing Communication at Oklahoma State University and Taylor’s University, Malaysia. Her research interests in relationship marketing, customer satisfaction, job satisfaction, and service quality.
MACAO UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - YOUNG CHEFS JUDGE
Mary Ote is a Filipino pastry and western cuisine chef with 25 years of experience on the international stage. Her culinary journey includes working as the pastry chef at the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts in the United States, and as a corporate pastry chef for Aalst Chocolate in Singapore.
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She returned to the Philippines to established herself in her home country with Nestle Philippines as a chef consultant, handling national key accounts and promoting culinary excellence at corporate level.
After years of service to the industry, Chef Mary found her calling and became an educator at one of the top culinary school in Manila, the Enderun Colleges-Ecole Ducasse. Her passion for training young talents lead to her recruitment by Macau University of Science and Technology where she is also a coach for local and international culinary competitions.
"Ching He Huang, known as ‘Ching’, is an Emmy-nominated, Award winning TV Chef and Cookery Book Author, who has been championing, popularising and de-mystifying Chinese cuisine
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in the media, since 2003. Ching’s approach to cookery stems from the traditional farming community of her grandparents in Southern Taiwan. Ching’s ethos is to use fresh organic produce, making cooking fun, accessible and nutritious to all, appealing to both the East and West.
Ching has fronted 11 TV shows, authored 9 cookery books and is published in several languages around the world. Her recent books “STIR CRAZY” and ‘WOK ON’ consistently reach bestseller status in the Amazon charts for Chinese Cookery. Ching has consulted on many levels, from family owned restaurants to international corporations in hospitality, often working with brands to execute successful media campaigns. Despite Ching’s achievements, her message remains humble. She believes that cooking can be an empowering opportunity to transform and self-realise - “to cook for others is to share joy, to cook for yourself is self-love, to consume consciously is to be compassionate”.
Ching supports numerous charities - Buddhist Charity TZU CHI whose aims are to show Compassion in Action, and the charity Centrepoint, whose goal is to end youth homelessness – both causes close to Ching’s heart. Ching is a food entrepreneur and founding creator of the “Lotus Wok” whose aim is to transform impoverished lives through food.
Her food journey will lead her to publish her 10th book, ‘Asian Green’ – a plant based recipe book, in Jan 2021, published by Kyle Books.
Ching enjoys Films, QiGong, Yoga, Swimming, Painting and Gardening."
Ken Hom OBE is the man who showed the British how to cook Asian food. A leading authority on Chinese cuisine, he is one of the most respected and celebrated TV chefs of all time.
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His phenomenal success is easily measured. He is the author of almost 40 books, which have inspired millions of home cooks around the world. In Britain alone, the Ken Hom wok is found in one in seven kitchens. Ken Hom, who resides in France and in Thailand but travels tirelessly all over the world, continues to appear regularly as celebrity chef, write new books and keep an involvement with restaurants worldwide. He has presented seven UK television series launching his career over 35 years ago with Ken Hom’s Chinese Cookery. His most recent book is his autobiography ‘My Stir Fried Life’ – published in English and Chinese and available from Amazon, a high-spirited, life-enriching feast where the chopsticks never stock clattering, the platters are always abundant, and dreams – no matter how ridiculously unbelievable – can and do come true.
He is a founding patron of the Oxford Cultural Collective, an independent cultural Institute that promotes better understanding of food and drink. The Collective has links to Oxford Brookes University through its foundation, formed to provide students with outstanding learning experience. https://oxfordculturalcollective.com/
A great charity supporter, his two main charities are Action Against Hunger and Prostate Cancer UK.
INSTITUTE FOR TOURISM STUDIES MACAO - YOUNG WAITERS CHIEF JUDGE
Edwyn is working as the Co-ordinator for Food and Beverage Courses at the Macau Institute for Tourism Studies since 2005. Responsible to plan and arrange the departments’ F&B related courses, also teaching F&B service operation and management theory courses. read more Tutor and leading assessor of IFTM – MORS [Macao Occupational Skills Recognition System], in the areas of Western Waiter/Waitress and Bartender. In recent years, had been invited numerous times, as jury for various Western table service and Bartender competitions in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.
THE SEASONS - YOUNG WAITERS JUDGE
Mathieu Gaignon has over 20 years of experience as head sommelier / restaurant manager at some of the world’s most famous restaurants, including the 3-Michelin-Star Joël Robuchon au Dôme in Macau and Gordon Ramsay’s 3-Michelin Star restaurant Hospital Road in London.
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He completed the prestigious Mention Complémentaire de Sommellerie in France in 1999 and was selected as Assistant Head Sommelier for Gordon Ramsay’s Hospital Road, where he was mentored by world-renowned Master Sommelier Ronan Sayburn MS.
He has since worked with 2-Michelin star chef Eric Chavot at the Capital Hotel and 2-Michelin star chef Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley. Mathieu moved to Macau with Joël Robuchon Restaurant au Dôme at the Grand Lisboa Hotel and now Beverage Director at The Seasons, MUST Training Restaurant, Macau University of Science and Technology.
THE EDUCATIONAL RESTAURANT - YOUNG WAITERS JUDGE
Benny Vu started his food and beverage career at the first five stars hotel in Macau, Hyatt Regency Macau. With his wonderful talent, he represented Macau to participate the 28th WorldSkills Competition at Osaka, Japan, in 1985.
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Starting from 1998, he joined the Macao Institute for Tourism Studies (IFTM) as the Educational Restaurant Manager. The Educational restaurant has maintained its Michelin BIB Gourmand status since 2013 and received Macao’s first Michelin Green star in 2020
With his abundant food and beverage experience, he moved his career to an educator, by providing professional food and beverage service related courses and trainings to Bachelor Degree students of Hotel Management and Tourism Event Management. Today many of the hospitality top talents has been trained by Benny Vu.
PRESIDENT OF THE MACAU HOTEL ASSOCIATION - YOUNG WAITERS JUDGE
Born in Lisbon, Portugal, holds Bachelor Degrees in Tourism Business Management and Hotel Management taken in Porto, Estoril and Macau. Worked 16 years in the Hotel Business in Portugal, Belgium, UK and Macau, namely with Sheraton, Copthorne Hotels, Hyatt and St Regis Hotels.
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From 1991 to 2000, Director of the Hotel and Tourism Training School at the Institute for Tourism Studies in Macau. From 1993 to 1995 was a member of the Installing Committee of the Tourism College of Macau, the institution that created IFTM (Institute for Tourism Studies of Macau) in September 1995. Luis lecturers Wine Studies since 1995 at the Macao Institute For Tourism Studies (IFTM).
From September 2002 to October 2011 worked as Director’s Advisor at the Macau Government Tourist Office where among other projects, planned, organized and executed extensive works for the Macau Wine Museum. In 2010, established UVA – Vinho e Sabores Sociedade Unipessoal Limitada, and founded VINOMAC Limited, imports and distributes wines in Macau and Hong Kong.
Since 2011 works as Consultant at LCCH Hospitality and Tourism Consultancy, mainly providing services to Crowne Plaza Macau and Pousada de Coloane Hotel – Licensing, F & B and Project Management.
MACAO INSTITUTE FOR TOURISM STUDIES - YOUNG WAITERS JUDGE
Miguel Gassmann de Oliveira has over 30 years’ experience in the hotel and hotel education industry with a focus on Food and Beverage. He has been teaching Hotel and Food and Beverage related courses at the Institute for Tourism Studies of Macau for the past 17 years. read more He is also very experienced in judging Restaurant Service competitions where he has been the Expert for the World Skills Restaurant competition for Macau. At present he is lecturing on Theory and Practice of Restaurant and Bar, as well teaching Kitchen related courses as part of the Culinary Arts program.
