Alen Thong... - The Emirates Culinary Guild

COVER STORY
The excitement
begins...
Umaima Tinwala
Alen Thong attended
his first WACS
Congress in 1994,
and it was the most
unforgettable, because
it was just plain fun.
And that’s what he’d
like to see happen at
the upcoming WACS
Congress 2008, to be
held in Dubai on May
12-15.
This would not be Alen Thong’s first
WACS congress. He’s been to many
of them as a participant, quietly
assessing and analysing the proceedings.
While he won’t confirm or deny either way,
we’re quite sure it was all leading up to this
moment, when he’s busy preparing for the
upcoming WACS Congress 2008, to be held in
Dubai.
“It’s definitely going to be different. And
different in a fun way. You can count on that
at least,” he smiles. Recovering from two
operations, Thong is taking all the rest his
doctor advises so that his energy meter stays
in overdrive. For, come May next year, he will
need all his strength to play his role as WACS
Congress Director in its entirety.
Donning a different kind of hat to suit the
occasion is something Alen is not unfamiliar
with. Starting his career in the industry at
15 as a Chef, Alan has worked in the UK and
many other places before moving to handling
a food supply business in Dubai. “That was in
1982. But my first time in the Middle east was
actually in 1976, when I moved to Oman to
open a nightclub,” he says.
While the idea may sound surprising to
some, the actual place was not quite the way
one would imagine it to be. “Things weren’t
as streamlined, and the ‘club’ in our name,
Al Sabeer Club, actually put us under the
jurisdiction of the Ministry of Youth and Sport,
who regulated sports and chess clubs,” smiles
Alen. Today, of course, the premises house a
girl’s school.
Oct - Nov 2007 GULF GOURMET 2 5