< PreviousAramtec Caterer Middle East | June 2019 www.caterermiddleeast.com 40 / Events ARAMTEC REACHES OUT TO ITS CLIENTS An intimate event at Hyatt Regency Dubai Creek let chefs get hands-on with their favourite products UAE-based premium food supplier Aram- tec hosted a full day of demonstrations and live cooking at Hyatt Regency Dubai Creek Heights to bring together its customers with the brands they use on a daily basis. The intimate setting al- lowed a number of brands such as Braun, Rich’s, Bakels, and Veliche to showcase their products to an audience of chefs from across the UAE. Among the live cooking tak- ing place was David Arnold, certifi ed executive chef by American Culinary Federation, and senior coach for the Emir- ates Culinary Olmypics Team, who held a live demonstration on the benefi ts of US-underuti- lised cuts, and Rich’s Katerina Jones, National Czech Cham- pion gold medal winner, who did a live demonstration on the wonders of Rich’s cream. It was a chance for local chefs to quiz the experts on their product knowledge, picking up tips and tricks on the best way to get the most out of them. Also showcasing for Bakels was chef Fritz Mayer, the winner of the gold medal in Coupe du Monde de La Patisserie in 1998, and he was impressed by the interest shown by the audience. He said: “The people com- ing here are very good qual- ity customers. They are very interested as always. I think this is the fourth time we’re doing this event and it’s always a success. You can measure the success of such an event three weeks later with what the feedback is from the mar- ket and the number of orders dropping in, but I’m sure it will be successful once again as it was very innovative, and only with innovation and new ideas can you attract people back to such events.” For Aramtec, the draw of such an event is that they can interact directly with the peo- ple who matter to them — their customers — in a way not pos- sible at larger events such as Gulfood for example. Aramtec CEO Badrik Me- likian explained: “We invite decision makers, we invite the people who make the products. The events are focused on the customers, focused on the ex- ecutive chefs, focused with the F&B brands, focused with the commercial sectors. Like the USA commercial sector, they are talking directly to the chefs here. The one-on-one interac- tion has a direct eff ect into the understanding of the product.” The success of the event, which Aramtec plans to con- tinue with twice a year, has led to Aramtec reducing its exhibition space at Gulfood “significantly” preferring to focus on more direct action with its customers. It certainly worked for small New Zealand company Mount- bry, whose owner Glen Ander- son said they had already had six confi rmed orders from the day's event. He added: "We thoroughly enjoy the relationship with Aramtec. Their guys are well motivated and talented and passionate about what they do — as are we — so it’s a great fi t." The hotel lobby. The US Meat Export Federation live demo Mountbry's Glen Anderson with some clients.Aramtec www.caterermiddleeast.com /41 June 2019 | Caterer Middle East Events Nuraan Solomon and Carmen Bonilla. Aramtec's Riyadh Hassan with a customer. Katerina Jones showing her skills. Braun's Sufian R. Duhne explains to the audience.Having confi rmed his Colombo restaurant Ministry of Crab’s appearance on the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list for another year, Dharshan Munidasa fl ew into the UAE for pop-ups with Shangri-La hotels What is your earliest food memory? My earliest food memory was probably creating odori. Odori means dance in Japanese and is sashimi made from live shrimp. I was probably about 12 years old and when I was given some pocket money by my grandmother in Tokyo I went straight to a department store basement, bought 10 live Kuruma Ebi, skinned them, washed them, and ate them all by myself. Still love this dish! What inspired you to become a chef? Hunger! I always knew that I could never eat bad food and I started cooking because the dorm food was unpalatable to me after one semester of university in the US. When I first started cooking I slowly realised that I need to have a “method to the madness” so to speak and began developing menus with corresponding grocery lists. It always mattered that I made something that is good to eat and tasty. So much so that every Friday night about 20 students from neighbouring universities would show up at my place and it became The Prime Minister of Crab with Shangri-La in the UAE? All pop-ups are challenging because we are cooking in foreign kitchens but the team at both properties were great! We found it difficult to procure the exact size of crab that we require and the quantity. We are trying to fix that for the future by actually visiting the source in Africa. How often do you get to Dubai and what do you enjoy the most about it? With my travel schedule it is very difficult to find time to wander around in a city like Dubai. This time around spending two nights in Dubai was one of the longest I’ve spent there in the last few years. I need to find time to come over for a longer visit soon. If you weren’t a chef what would you be? I can’t imagine my life without being a chef. I think I would not be on this planet. What does the future hold for Ministry of Crab? A permanent UAE location? I hope so. We are looking at fixing the crab supply to do exactly that! somewhat of a Japanese restaurant! This later translated into Nihonbashi [his Colombo restaurant set up in 1995] when I returned to Sri Lanka. How would you describe your culinary style? Simple, natural, and totally dependent on ingredients as Japanese food normally is. What has been your proudest moment as a chef? Receiving the Minister’s Award for Overseas Promotion of Japanese Food in 2014. Being a recipient of this award given out by the Japanese Government and being accepted into the ranks of the prestigious past recipients is one of the highlights of my life to date. How is Ministry of Crab doing in Sri Lanka? Right now Colombo is at a standstill due to the Easter Sunday bombings and we hope things will return to normality soon. Can you tell us about your pop-ups Tomahwak steak The key ingredient at Ministry of Crab. Dharshan Munidasa Last Bite Dharshan Munidasa Caterer Middle East | June 2019 www.caterermiddleeast.com 42/Make a Bold Move. For the best results from your kitchen now is the time to think quick smart. The Turbofan range of convection ovens, proofer and holding cabinets and combi steamer ovens will deliver all the options for a truly huge range of cooking applications. From roasting and cooking, baking, proofing, cook ‘n’ hold and reheating, your protein and bakery products will be delivered with perfect results each and every time. With manual control, digital display and the one touch options, moisture injection and core temperature probe models, kitchens now have even greater choice. All the speed. All the smarts. 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