My Journey to Zest Quest Asia 2023

On a Monday afternoon in the second week of uni, a teacher came into the kitchen and asked me if I'd be interested in doing a competition. I'd never done one before but always wanted to try. One of my regrets since college was that I didn't commit myself

enough to a competition, which I knew my classmates were doing.

Upon finding out about this competition, I immediately wanted to sign up. Being Asian, I was very interested in discovering other cuisines and testing myself. Would I even be good enough? I'm usually a slow cook, I like to take my time with everything, so finding out that it was timed was my first downfall. I've always been confident to be a good home cook, but I wasn't sure about the title of "Chef" yet.

The competition that I had signed up for was called Zest Quest Asia. And boy, was I in for a ride!

Upon signing up, I was interviewed by a teacher I'd never met before, but soon he became a mentor to me. I also discovered it was going to be a team challenge. A few days after the interview, I got an email saying I'd been selected to do it. I was quite excited that my teacher had seen something in me, but also terrified that I wasn't going to be able to do it. When learning that it was Vietnamese food that we were going to be cooking, I was excited to learn more, yet still nervous as my only knowledge of Vietnamese food was Pho and summer rolls.

When I met my team, I was overjoyed to see that it was two other girls, who both had a love for Asian food. We gelled super fast, and I think that this was the key to our success. (Shoutout to Olivia and Keisha <3!)

We started doing practices with making our dishes, and spending hours in the kitchen developing our recipes and menu. A four-course meal in two hours? To me, it sounded scary as heck. At one point, I questioned whether I'd be able to do it. I remember crying multiple times when doing chicken butchery, trying to get everything right. I'd worked with meat before, only a couple of times. I remember telling my team members at the beginning that I'm really not the person to ask to do it, but in the final cook, I was the one who ended up doing it! This was a huge turning point for me, and now I believe I can do it actually quite well. I will, however, never forget, doing the chicken butchery, and the judges watching me. It was definitely a tense moment!

The dish that I made with the chicken is a take on the dish Bánh chưng, which I'd never even heard of! I was very nervous to do the main course, but it's definitely something I did enjoy learning to make. It's definitely a labour of love, and the original dish is cooked for longer, so we adapted it to make it within our time frame. As well as the main course, the three other courses were completely new to me. Our amuse bouche was a clear dumpling, the starter being a take on Pho, and the dessert being a sticky rice cake. I'd had some sort of version of all three, but never in the way that we executed them. For example, our Pho being made from all mushrooms and a tomato consomme. No noodles (enoki mushrooms instead), no meat, just veg.

During the period when we were developing our menu with our mentor (also shout-out to Nathan!), we also went out for dinner to research Vietnamese cuisine. As well as getting ideas of what types of flavours Vietnamese food had on hand, it was certainly a good bonding experience. Just chilling and eating, which is definitely what I do best!

After weeks of spending our Wednesday evenings and Fridays in the Kitchen, and hours on meetings on Microsoft teams; it was finally the week of the competition. It's safe to say that this was the most manic week of my life (so far). The actual competition was on Friday, but the Thursday we had to do a presentation. On the Friday before the week, we finished our final practice and I could not be more proud. We decided that however the competition went, we had done what we struggled with. We'd made 4 courses in a team, within the 2-hour time limit. Our dishes were great, and we'd all grown so much since the first practice! On the Wednesday, we came in to prepare mise-en-place and prepare our ingredients, ready for the cook-off. I was quite nervous, but it felt good to prepare everything. I literally checked through my things 100 times, I didn't want to miss anything! We gave our Nathan a gift and a card which we'd written for him, to thank him for all his help. Whether we won or lost at this point, we were so thankful for the journey we'd come on, and he'd mentored us so well.

On Thursday 16th February, I woke up buzzing. I was nervous, yet excited. I arrived at my uni in the morning, after going on a quick shopping spree. Me and my group, being us, planned to go into the spa and steam room at the hotel we were going to be staying at, so I picked up a bikini for myself, as well as some cards for my teammates. I wanted to show them how thankful I was for them, and I wrote them in the library. I got into the kitchen and started to prepare, doing the last finishing touches. We then got in the car and started our journey to the hotel. We were staying at the Raddison Red, which I'd never been to! It was a really lovely hotel, and I did feel very boujee staying there, not going to lie. Once we had gotten there, we quickly checked into our rooms, and then started to unpack our stuff in the room for our presentation. All the other teams had done their tables, and some were mingling in the room, so it was exciting to see them. There was an energy in the room that I really can't describe, but it made me even more pumped. When we set up our table, I was so proud, yet I was starting to get nervous. The presentation was really starting to make me worried, I'm not the best with public speaking, and I was about to face 9 highly renowned chefs. I was worried to see Pervin & Cyrus, I knew who they were, and I think I was going to be a bit starstruck, which I definitely was. When we finished our table, we went upstairs to get ready for our presentation, we were first given our lovely chef jackets. These jackets were the coolest thing I think I've owned! It had my name on it, and all the sponsored companies on it, as well as Zest Quest Asia 2023, really made me feel like a proper chef.

So, with the kit, weeks of researching Vietnam, and the nervous energy, it was time for the presentation. And... I could not be more nervous. I'm not sure what came over me! I was stuttering, shaking and nervous giggling. I came out of the room, crying over how it went, I was so disappointed in myself. (The other two girls did amazing however, really good job to my team-mates) I really could not help it, but I didn't want to let my team down. We went to the restaurant for dinner, and I did cheer myself up a bit, because I do LOVE a good buffet. What topped off the evening to me was when we went to the spa, it was out of order, which kind of disappointed me, as I just wanted to steam out all my bad energy.

After sitting with my team, we hung out for a bit, and then I went to bed.

The next morning was The Day! Friday 17th February. I woke up early and packed my bag with my chef whites; my new & fresh jacket, my trousers, chef shoes and apron. I went down to the restaurant for breakfast, after putting on a bit of makeup. I knew they were going to take photos, so while not going overboard, I wanted to look a bit more presentable (lol). When I got downstairs, I was excited to see that it was another buffet. A full English, plus tiny croissants, fruit, yoghurt. If there was something that you'd want, it was there! I also got a coffee, because what's a chef without coffee?! I don't usually eat big breakfasts, but I knew that I'd need the energy.

When we finished eating, it was time to get onto the coach and drive to the university for the cook-off. I was quite nervous, but had a good time, talking with my team-mates, I thought it would be funny to read our horoscopes, which, by the way, were due to be good days, so I had a good feeling.

When we got to the university, I started to get stressed. On the day of the presentation, we found out which number station we would be, which was drawn from a hat. Although it was in our university, we had no idea how the kitchen was going to be set out, or what the station would be. We had practised with different layouts, but all in all, we didn't know how we'd be working.

In the kitchen, it was manic. 6 teams, including us, with trolleys of equipment and food. I was starting to get stressed, and when we were setting up how we were going to do the cook, and who was working where. It was just so manic for me, and to be frank, we were becoming just a bit snappy with eachother, what with the nerves and all. Once we'd set up, we were all brought into one kitchen. Since there were 6 teams, there was 3 in two different rooms. Chef Cyrus gave us a brief; two hours to create the dishes. After that, we went into the holding room. The times were staggered, with 10 minutes between each team. Everyone gave a round of applause to the first team, who left the room. As the teams started to go, I was actually surprisingly calm. I did feel nervous, but we did a team group hug, and I knew that I'd done everything I could've possibly done and that I had to give it my all.

Then, they called our group. We walked in, and started cooking. The first thing for me was to prepare the chicken. I was nervous being watched by professional chefs doing butchery, but I think all turned out okay! As the dishes came together, I felt amazing. I was nervous, as not everything was going exactly to plan, but we found a way to improvise. I'd never been watched so intently while cooking, and I'd definitely never been filmed while cooking.

The pressure was actually not as bad as I thought, it was more like a jog than a sprint, and it actually felt natural. I really enjoyed explaining the dishes and what we were doing to the judges and sponsors. I had printed out a recipe for myself in case I'd forget anything or get lost, but it was muscle memory. When we worked together, I enjoyed tasting each other's food, and we cheered each other on. One thing I liked was that we all had taken charge of one course, and worked on the dessert together. When our Amuse-Bouche went out, I cheered Keisha on and felt even more motivated to keep going. Then, Olivia went with the starter. As she left, I knew I had to speed up a bit. Although I was on time, I knew I'd have to serve very soon, and I was bringing things together. I was so proud of myself and my team and felt amazing. When I was plating my main, I couldn't find the judge to bring my meal into the judging room, so I started to panic, worrying that it was going to get cold and I was going to let my team down.

Walking in with my tray, with my plate on, I did get nervous. I explained my dish to the panel, laughing as I stuttered. I finished with a "please enjoy!" and a grin. After I walked out, I knew it was up to them. I walked back into the kitchen, where I jumped in to help finish our dessert. We planned to serve it all together, which is what we did.

We walked into the judging room, as a three, and explained our final dish to everyone. I felt an amazing sense of unity, and I was so proud of us when we walked out. We hugged when we got back into the kitchen and started to clean down. When we'd finished, I felt a breath of fresh air. I was so proud and happy. I knew that however things turned out, we really had done everything. I knew that I gave everything my all, and the other girls had too.

Once all the teams had cleaned up, we all went downstairs to file back on the coach, and go back to the hotel, as we still had the Gala Night, where the awards of the night would be announced. As it was in our university, we helped the other teams go downstairs with their trolleys through the lifts. Then we got on the coach. When we arrived back at the hotel, we all sat for a bit. We arranged to meet together to go to the spa, but actually had a kerfuffle, as Olivia and Keisha's room door wouldn't open. When we sorted it all out, we headed to the spa, as it was open again, and we had a much-needed detox.

After the spa, I went to my room and had a very long shower. I love staying in hotels, almost solely because of their fancy bathrooms. I then headed downstairs to the girls room, so we could get ready together. I was super excited for the night, as I bought a nice dress, nice shoes and a new necklace for this. We listened to music while getting ready, and had a really good time.

We were (fashionably) late to come downstairs, as we miss the mingling section and had to go get seated for the dinner and awards evening. When we arrived downstairs, I immediately saw my stepdad and mum, to which I was so excited to see them. They were sadly seated on the other room from us, but I introduced them to the team and our teacher. Then, the Gala dinner started. It was truly a great night! The food was delicious, and there was free wine, so can't go wrong. Before they started to announce any awards, they pulled up the teachers and mentors on the stage, which meant Nathan had to go up. We cheered so loudly for him!

After the first course, they started to announce some of the awards, one of which we won! We won least Wastage at first, which excited me greatly, as our team aimed to make our meal with the least food waste, and we told the judges this in our presentation, so we were just so happy that the judges got that through our cooking too. The second award that our team won was Best Use of the Panasonic Combi Oven, which was so exciting to us! Every time we won an award, I looked over and saw my mum and stepdad cheering for me.

Between courses, I talked to my mum, stepdad and teachers. After we finished the main course, it was time to announce the runner-up and the winner. I was so nervous, I remember literally squeezing hands with Keisha so hard, I just couldn't help it. They announced the runner-up, and I cheered for the team, I knew that they deserved it so much! As they walked past our table I congratulated them.

Finally, it was time to announce the winners. The winning team would win a trip of a lifetime, a trip to a surprise location. They played a promo video, and then Cyrus announced where the trip would be. It was Bangkok! I personally have only traveled once out of the UK, so this was insane to me, I knew that whoever won would have an amazing time.

The suspense was killing me, and then, he announced the winners. It was us!

We won it?! I screamed so loud, and we hugged each other. We did it! Our hard work won us the trip. I'll honestly never forget the moment. Hearing our university name called, walking up to the stage and receiving our awards was the most surreal moment.

I remember walking down off the stage, and hugging Nathan when we got down, I turn around and see my mum running towards me crying. She said how proud she was of me, crying and hugging me. I was crying too at that point, literally in shock, as were my team members.

We did a small interview outside, after getting our photos taken on the stage. The rest of the night was a blur, we were so excited. I thanked every judge, and the teachers at our university for supporting us.

Since then, I still can't believe it. I remember hugging and shaking hands with the other contestants. I made some great friends along the way, the other students, they're all amazing chefs. I also have to thank Lewis and Rhiannon from Sheffield for being so kind and supportive to me, you guys are so lovely.

Our trip to Bangkok is something I'm looking forward to. This is just the beginning, and I've learned so much, and become a better chef from this. I'm so proud of myself, Olivia and Keisha for what we've done! I really wanted to write about my journey, so if you've read this, thank you!

Moments of winning (featuring hilarious candid of me excited)

all photos were taken not by me