Alen Thong... - The Emirates Culinary Guild

COVER STORY
Three years on, he moved to Bahrain. That’s
when he received a call from an old colleague.
“He had come to Dubai to run the company
I now own. He was getting kicked upstairs,
and asked me if I wanted to come over and
manage the company,” shrugs Alen. But it
didn’t work out quite that easily.
so I decided to pay him a visit,” he explains.
And what he saw seemed interesting. “As
a chef, you are used to working ten hours a
day – that’s fairly standard. Here, the lifestyle
was completely different, where one could
get home at six or seven in the evening and
actually have a life,” he explains.
area, where things have to happen as they
have to happen, so authority is respected and
obeyed. I was used to ordering people around.
Here, I couldn’t do that. And that was a big
change for me. I had to change my mindset
completely, which, with some difficulty, I
eventually did,” he smiles.
were packed in the UK and shipped overnight.
We then picked them up at Dubai airport in
the morning and delivered them straight to
the Chefs. Given the nature of the products,
the cold chain had to be maintained, and we
could only check the products once they were
delivered,” explains Alen.
“At the time, I could not think of being
anything but a Chef. That’s who I was. But I was
curious, and had some leave coming my way,
Alen took the plunge, but realised shifting
careers was about more than changing
countries. “As a chef, you are in the service
At John Holt Foods, Alan was one of three
managers, who handled the company that
specialised in fresh perishables. “The goods
And delivery could not be delayed, or missing.
“The market was rather underdeveloped
at the time, so we really had to think on
“That was just plain fun. We had all the events outdoors,
with brilliant displays and innovative dishes. Everything was
made more fun with props and costumes and the works.
That’s how I want the Dubai congress to be,” says Alen, his
eyes lighting up excitedly.
Oct - Nov 2007 GULF GOURMET 2 7