Jeffery Lao, Pastry Chef of IFT, Wong Weng U, Senior Sous Chef from Sands Macau and Ariel Chi, Maitre d' Hotel of City of Dreams teamed and won the Gold medal of 1st Asia Team Trophy Contest 2012. The contest was held by Escoffier Asia in Shanghai on 10 May.

Four teams had been selected from 5 stars hotel in Greater China (2 from the Mainland China, 1 from Hong Kong, China and 1 from Macao, China) to compete for the Best Culinary Team Award. Each team is consisted of a Maitre d’ Hotel, a Pastry Chef and a Chef. During the contest, they had to prepare a French set meal with appetiser, main dish, dessert plus a show piece. Team spirit, cooking skill and food and beverage service skill were highly emphasised in this contest.

Escoffier is a French non-profit culinary association founded in 1954. Escoffier has been in Asia for many years and it aims to promote French cuisine around the world. Ever since 2007, Escoffier Asia has been giving young chefs a unique opportunity to demonstrate their skills, offering them a tremendous facilitator for their careers. Last year, it also organised the Youth Hope Contest in Shanghai which showcased the outstanding talents and gastronomic trends.

Jeffery Lao expressed that he had learned a lot in this contest and absorbed many new ideas of cooking through this international contest. He enjoyed working with the Macao Team and was glad to have won the Gold Medal. He also thank IFT for giving him full support for joining this contest and for which IFT is always engaged in different events for the promotion of ethnic cuisine worldwide. Jeffery Lao believes that there are more and more local culinary talents emerging and participating in such activities can broaden their professional knowledge in this industry.