Taylorians Explain: Internship at a Michelin Star Restaurant

30 Nov 2022

9 Min Read

Jack and the Young Chef Community (Guest Contributor)

IN THIS ARTICLE

It’s not every day that you get to do your internship at a Michelin-starred restaurant in a country 10,000 km from the place where you’re studying. Some would say, only the crème de la crème would be able to be selected AND survive it. Hence, after a year of training in various different skills, our final-year Advanced Diploma In Patisserie and Gastronomic Cuisine students are given the opportunity to gain international experience through internship placement at top Michelin-starred restaurants around the world.

But what is it really like having to face the grill firsthand? We talked to our Taylor’s Culinary Institute students, Jack Yap Zhen Jie and Daniella Carissa Sachi Lau, about their experiences interning at BRAS and L'Epicurien respectively in France.

What was your most memorable moment during your internship experience abroad?

Daniella Carissa: The whole learning process was a memorable and valuable experience for me. It was memorable for me to bond and get to know my colleagues from different backgrounds and nationalities. More so, it was also interesting for me to learn more about the very present cultural differences and the importance of adaptability.

Jack Yap: The first barbecue night with my friends in BRAS. The restaurant was closed so we planned for a barbecue party and drove to the nearest beach. The sunset view was gorgeous. We were grilling meats, the sommeliers were making cocktails, and the ‘DJ’ was blasting his Spanish music. At night, we sat around a campfire, sang, drank, shared stories, and laughed at the huge difference in our backgrounds. These people taught me how to have fun, be free, and live life to the fullest. It was one of the best nights of my life and I deeply cherish the friends I gained.

What did you find most difficult about interning in a different country AND in a Michelin-star restaurant and how did you get through it?

Daniella Carissa: My restaurant was awarded Bib Gourmand, an award under the Michelin Guide focusing on restaurants offering the best value for money.

What was pressing was working in a restaurant with very high standards in terms of the different qualities, handling a wide variety of fusion cuisine combinations, observing a high level of hygiene aspects, ensuring the flow of running a Michelin-worthy restaurant, and keeping sure the work ethics of all the workers met these standards. Regardless of the difficulty, I felt honoured to pick up and maintain these qualities during my experience there.

Being trained and constantly exposed to what real kitchen life would be like really prepared and honed me mentally so I came armoured knowing what I signed up for. Also, not mastering speaking skills was one of the hardest things for me because communication was a crucial part of this experience. What helped me with that was also preparing myself mentally so that I wouldn’t be immediately able to do this but learn through the process.

Daniella (second from right) with the crew at L'Epicurien.

Jack Yap: The hardest thing was definitely the language barrier. Communication was really hard for me initially but I felt it was mainly about understanding the tasks assigned to me. Working in a fine-dining Michelin-starred restaurant where things have to be perfect, I needed to fully understand what I’m doing in order to achieve the standard of the restaurant.

I spent most of my spare time learning French. I’d bring a paper with me every day to write down all the new words I heard in the kitchen which I, after work, would find the meaning of. Despite the difficulty, I also asked all my colleagues to speak proper French to me so I could learn even faster. It was very effective and took less than a month for me to integrate and communicate with the team.

Jack (right) with the highly-awarded Chef of the Century, Michel Bras (left) chef and owner of BRAS at a local festival.

How did your training during your studies help you prior to your internship abroad?

Daniella Carissa: Aside from the skills learned during classes, I’d the opportunity to intern in my home country, Indonesia during the COVID-19 pandemic. That internship experience helped me to have a clearer view of what it’s like in a real working environment and the systems we should follow as it’s applied in every food establishment. It definitely helped me during my internship at L'Epicurien.

Jack Yap: We learned a lot about French techniques in classes and I’ve also worked in a few French restaurants in Malaysia prior to my internship in France. The skills and knowledge I gained from these experiences certainly made it a lot easier for me to understand and keep up with the team at BRAS.

A picture of L'Epicurien’s Strawberry Pavlova prepared by Daniella and the crew for their takeaway service.

What's one important takeaway that the experience brought to you?

Daniella Carissa: Don't expect people to respect you without having the same attitude of how you want to be treated by others. This applies to anyone regardless of their position and hierarchy. As interns, our main obligation is to work and learn with a positive, genuine, and humble attitude. We need to be respectful to everyone.

Jack Yap: Don’t be intimidated by Michelin stars. I was very intimidated, feeling like it was something totally out of my reach. After the experience, it felt like just another kitchen with a bigger team. Michelin stars are just one of MANY ways to determine the quality and standard of a restaurant so don’t focus too much on the stars. If you’ve got a burning passion, a great attitude, and are very serious about your crafts, you’ll flourish anywhere you go — with or without stars.

How has your internship abroad helped you upon returning to Malaysia?

Daniella Carissa: It definitely gave me an upper hand, especially in technique and experience. Upon returning to Malaysia and graduating with the Advanced Diploma, I was able to connect with some chefs and participate in their pop-up events! I gave them a hand in the kitchen and put what I’d practiced by re-applying what I learned during my internship in France which was especially useful to their creations of fusion dishes.

A picture of Jack preparing a herb salad, one of the most famous dishes at BRAS that has remained the same for the past 30 years.

Jack Yap: The one thing that really inspired me was learning the importance of understanding the ingredients. I was intimidated by the thought of getting creative with vegetables because I was only taught a few ways of cutting and cooking them. During my internship, I was inspired by how much thought and care was put into each ingredient — from choosing the best soil and environment to grow it into harvesting it at the right stage and experimenting with different cutting and cooking techniques.

As we were dealing with more than 100 different types of vegetables and herbs every day, whenever we were unsure about the taste or texture, we’d taste it to understand the ingredients better and find out the best way to prepare it. I started practising this and it definitely improved my knowledge of many ingredients to a great extent.

While it may seem like all glitz and glam interning abroad at well-renowned restaurants, it’s not without its own hardships. Jack recounts, “It’s extremely normal to meet chefs that throw things, physical and verbal, in the name of helping us improve. In this harsh environment, we face a lot of pressure and tough moments but when you go through this, remind yourself to not take things too personally.”

He continues, “No matter how passionate you are about something, you’ll definitely have times where you get demotivated and start doubting your passion. Whenever you feel like it, take a step back to remind yourself why you chose this path and how you fell in love with it.”

The kitchen life may be too hot to handle for an unprepared young chef. For many, the challenges faced without prior training might result in them leaving what they love to do. So what’s the best way to keep that passion burning?

Since coming back from his internship, Jack was inspired to share the knowledge he learned with fellow young chefs to prepare them for the challenges faced while working in the industry. Thus, the ‘Young Chefs Community’ was born.

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