How top chefs like Alain Ducasse and Pierre Hermé get a 7-course Michelin-star-quality dinner ready for 500 people – a test of skill and timing
Diners expect culinary excellence at gala dinners such as the recent Michelin Gala Night in Macau – which means top chefs have their work cut out producing hundreds of meals at the same time and to the highest of standards
Hong Kong’s elite are no stranger to gala dinners, whether they are raising money for charity or attending an awards night. Diners expect excellence as the culinary scene has evolved with chefs offering more refined and innovative dishes. With the foodie subculture now mainstream, chefs have their work cut out producing hundreds of meals that need to go out at the same time on a gala night while maintaining their usual high standards.
One such event was the recent Michelin Gala Night. Since the Hong Kong and Macau Michelin Guide moved its events to City of Dreams in Macau, their gala dinner on the evening of their book launch has been an anticipated event. Top local and international fine dining chefs are invited each year to participate, creating and executing dishes for more than 500 guests.
However, serving the perfect dish for 500 diners, while maintaining the quality expected in their restaurants in Paris, London or New York, can be a challenge even for top chefs.
Taking on the challenge at the Michelin gala dinner in December 2019, the seven-course menu was overseen by illustrious chefs Alain Ducasse, Kunio Tokuoka, Alex Atala and Pierre Hermé, and Michelin star local chefs, Kelvin Au Yeung from Jade Dragon in Macau, Lau Yiu-fai from Yan Toh Heen in Hong Kong and Fabrice Vulin from The Tasting Room in Macau.
The success is “down to the team, we have a very skilled team who are very well trained,” said Vulin, who created a lightly smoked salmon with watercress cream and acidulated beetroot. “It’s a dish we have all year round so the team knows what to do and it’s also about sourcing the best ingredients. When I create dishes, I know I can do it for a table of two as well as 500 people.”
Renowned pastry chef and chocolatier, Hermé, who was in charge of dessert, agreed.
“The same team are making the dessert every day and tonight we will have 20 of our pastry chefs concentrating on one task that they know perfectly well as we have trained several times before [this event],” said Hermé, who created a chocolate dessert he calls Ultime – a classic combination of vanilla and chocolate. “I will not be in the kitchen, they will do it as they do every day when I am not there.”
But his dish was full of complexities, and Hermé says serving 500 diners took a lot of organisation.