HCC hosts farm-to-fork tour for Far Eastern chefs
Chefs from major Hong Kong and Macau food destinations visited Wales for a Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales (HCC) farm-to-fork tour, in a visit designed to help boost Welsh Lamb exports to the Far East.
Paul Brown, Randall Parker Foods, and farmer Huw Tudor with the study group.
The study group visited farms, processors, restaurants and butchers in the three-day visit.
The party was made up of Albert Au Kwok Keung, executive chef of Lai Sun F&B Management Group (Chinese division) and the youngest ever three Michelin star Chinese chef; Kevin Lee, service manager (kitchen) of Island Shangri-La; Calvin Soh, director, culinary operations (food & beverage), City of Dreams Macau; and Kenneth Law, executive chef (food & beverage), Studio City Macau.
“It was a fascinating and productive study tour,” Deanna Leven, HCC’s export market development executive said. “HCC has worked with all of these chefs to advise on premium Welsh Lamb and its PGI status; they had indicated that the farm-to-fork experience would be of great importance to the development of further business and we were delighted to help out.
“They said they needed to understand more about the provenance of the meat and really develop the narrative, and the visit did just that,” Leven continued. ”We’re now putting together a structural support package that will arm these new Welsh Lamb ambassadors to help spread the word in this key export destination.”
The group pictured with chef Adam Hilliard.
The programme opened with host Welsh Lamb Club Chef Tim McDougall staging a chef butchery demonstration at the Llansantffraed Court Hotel near Abergavenny.
It was followed by a farm visit at Raglan, where HCC board member Graham Probert and his family discussed the traditions of Welsh farming, Welsh climate and native pastures at his 250-acre lowland Welsh Lamb and beef farm.
Welsh Lamb Club chef Steven Terry of the Hardwick, Abergavenny, discussed using Welsh Lamb with the group, who then visited the Llanidloes farm of Huw Tudor and the nearby abattoir of Randall Parker Foods.
The group also enjoyed a tasting menu produced by David Kelman, the executive head chef at the three AA rosette Welsh Lamb Club member Ellenborough Park, Cheltenham, and attended a kitchen demonstration and meal prepared by Welsh Lamb Club Chef Adam Hilliard, the head chef at Frederick’s in London.
Premier Young Butcher 2016 crowned
