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Words of Wisdom Alumni Article

After completion of my Bachelor degree in Hotel and Hospitality
Administration in 2005. I travelled different countries for work like India,
U.A.E, Bermuda and United States of America before settling down in

Australia. During these 14 years of chef journey, I worked with various
Hospitality Brands (Taj Hotels, Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, JW Marriott
and Jaypee Palace Hotel, Lake House and Delaware North) and
organizations ranging from 2 Chef Hats Restaurants, AAA 5 Diamond
Restaurants, 5 Star Luxury Hotels and Conferencing, Events and Sports
Services. Utkarsh Dhama Executive Chef (2002 -2005)Currently I am
looking after the Events, Conferences and Mega Sports Events like
Australian Open, Australia Football League, Netball and National

Basketball in Melbourne, Australia. Role of a chef is pretty challenging at
Melbourne and Olympic Park as we deal with different market segments Utkarsh Dhama
Head Chef : Events (2005)
every day, also guests expectations are changing very quickly these days. We
deal with enormous amounts of requests regarding dietary requirements and preferences on daily
basis. People are really concerned about what they are eating, where it came from and how it has been prepared.
This definitely increases the daily challenges for chefs and events like Australian Open we serve about 85,000

meals on daily basis with keeping all the dietary requirements in mind.

Cooking is all about “Love and Passion”

Over view
Culinary......There's a rhythm to life - a sequence of ongoing daily rituals... Bread is rolled, fresh flowers are
arranged, coffee is ground. Mountains of fresh produce come through the kitchen doors, borne by proud
suppliers. Chefs butcher, peel and chop. The rhythm continues on through the day and into the evening, with the
soft murmur of guests and the clink of glasses in the restaurants. Final lights out offers a mere few hours respite
before the bakers return and the rhythm resumes once again.

Cuisine, market & menu
The Aboriginal people of Australia (Australia's first inhabitants), have for thousands and thousands of years
hunted and gathered their food in the Australian bush. This food is known as 'Bush tucker' and is still eaten today
by Aboriginal people in remote areas of Australia. Bush tucker includes kangaroo, emu, crocodile, witchetty
grubs, Quandong, bush tomato, yams and macadamia nuts. Many of these native foods have been incorporated
into contemporary cuisines and you will occasionally find these ingredients on the menu of restaurants and cafés
in Australian cities.
Thanks to Australia's multicultural society you can find almost any variety of food that you fancy in Australia.
Migrants from all over the world have immigrated to Australia and brought their culinary traditions with them.
Australia has an abundance of fresh food all year round.
Eating out is a popular pastime in Australia and we have a huge choice of fabulous restaurants, cafes, pubs and
bars in our cities and towns. In addition to speciality restaurants in a variety of cuisines such as Chinese, Thai,
Japanese, French, African, Greek, Turkish, Italian, Mexican (the list goes on) many Australian chefs are
renowned worldwide for 'fusion' cuisine which brings together European cooking styles with Asian flavours.

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