NAIT’s Luncheon
Earlier this month, I was invited to NAIT’s annual Chef in Residence Luncheon as a guest at the media/social media table. This year’s luncheon featured renown Canadian chef David Hawksworth from Vancouver, BC. He owns award-winning restaurant Hawksworth in Vancouver and has a culinary partnership with Air Canada. The luncheon was held at Ernest’s in NAIT, which is a restaurant where the food is cooked by Culinary Arts students and the service is provided by Hospitality Management students. What a great concept!
Disclosure: Although I was invited as a guest by NAIT, my review is 100% unbiased and based on my own, sincere experience.
Full house!
The Hokanson Chef in Residence program is part of NAIT’s Department of Culinary Arts and Professional Food Studies where students get to learn first-hand from some of the best chefs in the world. Past chefs that have been part of it are Susur Lee, Lynn Crawford, Michael Stadtländer, Vikram Vij and Amanda Cohen. The Chef in Residence Luncheon is held once a year in the springtime. Invited guests range from NAIT donors to sponsors to board members. I’ll be honest, I was a bit intimidated during this luncheon and was probably the youngest attendee in the room!
Beet Salad
The three-course menu for the luncheon was created by David Hawksworth and prepared by NAIT Culinary Arts students. The first course was a Beet Salad. Sitting on a layer of raspberry sauce, goat cheese was sandwiched in-between beets, then topped with pine nuts. I usually don’t eat beets but if they always tasted like these then I would eat it more often. These beets were reminiscent of the ones from my childhood that my mom used in her beet soup. I don’t like goat cheese but I surprisingly didn’t mind it with the beets. Usually, I find goat cheese to be overly tangy. The earthiness of the beets settled that down and paired well with the cheese.
Classic Fish Soup
The second course was a Classic Fish Soup. Chef David Hawksworth chose this as the main course because “everyone loves soup”. He first tried this soup in the UK and has been making it for 30 years since then. This soup consisted of a mixture of halibut, side stripe prawns, mussels, and clams in a saffron & tomato broth. The broth was aromatic and hearty, but not too heavy due to the seafood soaking it up. I enjoyed how fresh the seafood was, particularly the halibut. The soup also came with a piece of focaccia bread covered in a cheesy garlic sauce. Mmm! Overall, this was delicious and well put together. I usually find that soup doesn’t fill me up but this one sure did!
Vanilla Panna Cotta
The third course was a Vanilla Panna Cotta. According to Chef David Hawksworth, this “old-school recipe” was one of the first desserts that he had tried in Europe. When I took my first bite of this dessert, I knew that it was the best panna cotta I had ever tasted. It was so smooth and creamy! The texture was just right; each bite wanted to melt in my mouth. It was accompanied by champagne poached fruit and crisps that added a bit of texture. If you asked me to describe this panna cotta in one word, it would be heavenly.
Chef David Hawksworth with final remarks!
Overall, the Chef in Residence Luncheon was a great dining experience and I am very thankful that I was invited. It was nice to see Chef David Hawksworth talking about the food as well, before and after the three courses. I’ll be looking forward to seeing which celebrity chef NAIT will bring next year!
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