Wednesday, August 3, 2011

My Magsaysay Center for Hospitality and Culinary Arts Makati Experience

Last Friday, I was invited together with a group of bloggers to spend a day at Magsaysay Center for Hospitality and Culinary Arts (MIHCA) Makati.  According to the brochure "MIHCA is the leading institution of hospitality and culinary arts which has successfully launched careers for promising professionals."  They offer several certificate courses in culinary arts, baking and pastry, housekeeping and more.  Although the institution is still young, they have already won a number of competitions.

As I arrived at the venue, I was surprised to be welcomed by a lot of MIHCA students.  I was immediately guided to our seat at their restaurant area.  Once everyone has arrived, we were informed that we will be having a short tour.
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For the first part of the tour, we were taken to a room which looked exactly like a hotel room.  I was impressed that everything even the Holy bible by the bed stand, the towels in the bathroom or the pillows inside the drawers are accurately set out.  We were taught how to fix a hotel bed.  We were given tips on how to purchase and checks bed sheets, how to do the costing and we were also oriented on the modern way of hotel bedding.  They were very open to our questions and even gave us a gift as a token for our participation.
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Cucumber with Smoked Salmon w/ Cream Cheese and Capers
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Mushroom Duxelle Volauvant
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Lettuce Bundles with Spicy Peanut Noodles 

(Best finger food for the day!)
We were taken to the kitchen.  Graduating students welcomed us with a tray of finger foods.  They were delicious!  We proceeded deeper into the kitchen where students were busy preparing for the dishes that they will serve us for lunch.
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Chef Carbonell's Pastry Class
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Bitter Sweet Brownie Yum!
The best part of the tour was the pastry area. (because I love dessert!)  We were informed that their pastry area was so good that many companies even lease the area for their baking activities.  We were given delicious bitter sweet brownies.  We also saw the creme brulee that will be served for our lunch dessert.  There was one student who came all the way from the Carribeans just to enroll at MIHCA.
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Fun class with Chef Medrano
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Chef Medrano teaching us about deboned chicken
Our next stop was an air-conditioned room where the students were taught on how to thrust and debone a chicken.  We were informed that in ships, a kitchen staff has to thrust a chicken in 8 seconds.  So they were competing with their classmates who could thrust the chicken first.
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They gave us refreshments and were shown some cool barista moves.  It was definitely heart-thumping.  I could feel my heart beat with mixture of fear and amazement while watching.  Check the video below.
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end product of all those bottle tossing
Our last stop was for a coffee break.  Chef Docusin and his assistant served us espresso, cappuccino and mocha latte.  We were shown coffee arts.  It was fascinating.  All of us were impressed.  


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Chef Medrano Demonstrating Trussing
While some of us went ahead to have their lunch buffet.  I was with 5 other contestants randomly picked to participate in speedy chicken trussing contest.  To be honest, I don't know how to cook nor have I ever touched a raw chicken before.  It took some time before I got accustomed to its cold slippery yet rough texture.  I'm lucky that the Justin, the student who was assigned to teach me, was a good teacher.  He taught me really well.  I couldn't believe that during a short period, I was capable of learning chicken trussing.  Moreover, I won third place.
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Apple Strudel 
After being impressed with their facilities, they showed us the outcome of their training through their lunch buffet.  The students were attentive servers.  It was indeed a high class fine dining service.  The food was good. I loved the Apple Strudel.=)
During lunch, there was also a baking demonstration by Chef Napoleon Carbonell on how to make creme brulee.
classroom (4 types of floors to familiarize students)

I'm so glad I attended.  I came there knowing nothing about household and yet just for a day, I learned bed fixing and chicken trussing. Thank you MIHCA Makati for the hospitality.


MIHCA Makati
5/f Waltermart mall
Chino Roces Ave. Cor Arnaiz Ave
Makati
(+632) 889 1707



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