Connect - Parkway Pantai

INNOvation14INNOvation 15ConnectConnectIf you believe what you hear, hospital food doesn’t exactlyhave the best reputation out there. However, those inthe know, like Mount Elizabeth Hospital’s Executive ChefRichard Woo, will tell you that times have changed andthat hospitals are no longer the culinary wasteland of yore.Indeed, these days, not only do patients at ParkwayHealthhospitals get a wide choice of cuisine, they’re also giventhe opportunity to savour gourmet dishes prepared byaward-winning culinary professionals such as ExecutiveSous Chef Tan Lai Horng, who won the silver medal inlast year’s Mondial des Chefs de la Restauration Collective— a prestigious international competition for those in theinstitutional catering field.We caught up with Chef Woo who, prior to working atMount Elizabeth Hospital honed his skills at the OrientalHotel in Singapore and spent two years working on boarda private yacht in France, to find out more about thisunder-appreciated field.What’s on the Menu?It’s time to rethink all those stereotypes you have about hospital food.From left to right: Executive Chef Richard Woo with Executive Sous Chef Tan Lai HorngThe patients in the hospitalare no different from thecustomers in a restaurant.There’s a longstanding belief that hospital food is oftenunappetising. How do you feel about this?A lot of people claim that hospital food is [bland] but to us,it’s our duty as a chef to bring the best to [our patients].Almost everyone in the kitchen is from a restaurant or ahotel. The patients in the hospital are no different fromthe customers in a restaurant. We’re here to feed and servethem a good and proper meal; for instance, you’ll find thatwe use wine, butter and real cream in our continentalcuisine. We also have wine tasting, cheese, and canapés forcelebrations like Christmas.What kind of training do chefs working in hospitalsundergo?We go through a basic nutrition course conducted by oursenior dietitians and twice a year, we take a refreshercourse. This is very important because we deal withpatients who are on a special diet. In a hospital, we havepatients who may be on a low protein diet, so we have toknow [what they can eat and what they can’t] and how biga portion we can serve them. I also completed the ProchefCertification Level ll programme conducted by the CulinaryInstitute of America at Temasek Polytechnic and am nowan American Culinary Federation-certified Chef de Cuisine.