Canterbury Hurlstone Park RSL chefs among best in NSW

Canterbury Hurlstone Park RSL has won a silver prize at the annual Chef’s Table, competing against 86 club chefs from across NSW.

Canterbury Hurlstone Park RSL chefs Thanh Ngo and Freddie Salim won the silver prize at the 2019 Chef's Table competition. Picture: Robert Pozo

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Canterbury Bankstown’s reputation for amazing food continues, with two chefs from Canterbury Hurlstone Park RSL Club winning a silver award at the prestigious Chef’s Table competition.

Canterbury Hurlstone Park RSL head chef Freddie Salim and chef de partie Thanh Ngo battled it out against 86 chefs from 43 clubs in a MasterChef-style cook-off held at Ryde TAFE last month.

The pair were named the 2019 Chef’s Table silver prize recipients at gala dinner held at Doltone House on Monday night.

Canterbury Hurlstone Park RSL head chef Freddie Salim with the silver prize he and Thanh Ngo won at the 2019 Chef's Table awards held at Doltone House on August 5.

Each team was provided with a “mystery box” of ingredients, which had to be incorporated somewhere in the entree, main or dessert, with each team having only one hour to plan their menu.

The ingredients included — whole corn-fed chicken, chicken liver, chicken hearts, Western Star unsalted butter, Anchor cooking cream, preserved figs, kohlrabi, cavolo nero, mushrooms, daikon radish, potato kestrel, Dutch carrots, ruby grapefruit and raspberries.

Here’s what Mr Salim and Mr Ngo served up as Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL Club’s winning dishes:

Entree: Chicken heart and mushroom tortellini with cavolo nero and egg sauce

Main: Saigon chicken — roasted corn-fed chicken with hot and sour salad

Dessert: Lemongrass panna cotta, meringue chards, grapefruit granita and figs gel

Entree — Chicken heart and mushroom tortellini with cavolo nero and egg sauce.

The club opened a new restaurant back in December 2017, Nu Bambu, focused on South East Asian cuisine. Mr Salim, a Rhodes resident who has been head chef at the club since last September said he was very pleased with the win.

“I was shocked actually. I wasn’t expecting we would be in the top three because we were competing with more than 80 chefs,” Mr Salim said.

Main — Saigon chicken — roasted corn-fed chicken with hot and sour salad.

Dessert — lemongrass panna cotta, meringue chards, grapefruit granita and figs gel.

“This year it’s one of the biggest cooking competitions in the southern hemisphere.”

Mr Ngo said the pair were “really happy with what we served up” and they were hoping to incorporate some elements into the Nu Bambu menu.

Clubs from across Canterbury Bankstown have had great success in Chef’s Table which involves registered clubs from across NSW.

This year six local clubs were in the finals — Canterbury Hurlstone Park RSL, Bankstown Sports, Revesby Workers Club, Bankstown RSL, The Acres Club and Club Rivers.

CHPRSL chef Freddie Salim competes at 2019 Chef's Table.

Revesby Workers chef Daniella Digby won Chef’s Table in 2014 and 2015, while Bankstown Sports’ Cameron Murden won apprentice chef of the year in 2017.

ClubsNSW CEO Anthony Ball said the quality of Canterbury Hurlstone Park RSL’s dishes showed that registered clubs were leading the way in dining.

“To compete against so many of your industry peers and finish in the top three is a huge achievement, so a huge congratulations to the team from Canterbury Hurlstone Park RSL Club,” Mr Ball said.

“The quality of this competition continues to rise every year, with the judges having a difficult task to split teams, so to earn this honour is no easy feat. Our industry is fortunate to have so many talented chefs who cater to just about any tastebud.”

Gold went to Cessnock Leagues Club and bronze went to Mosman Club. Illawarra Master Builders Club’s Summer Carson was named Apprentice of the Year.

The judging panel consisted of judges chairman Julio Azzarello, executive chef

Adam Moore, Sydney Swans chef and former MasterChef contestant Courtney Roulston, The Red Spoon Company’s Nenad Djuric and World Association of Chefs Societies judge Roshan Thammitaarachchi.

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