The Apprentice

Being a foodie, I do admire chefs. The life of a chef is long hours ( and we sometimes complain that we work overtime and long hours). Even when the restaurant closes, cleaning the kitchen and clearing everything else takes at least another hour that we patrons do not see.

Luckily, there are still people who are so passionate about food that they are willing to enter the food, beverage and hospitality industry.

At Sydney TAFE, these students put theory into practice at their training restaurant, The Apprentice.

My friends and I were eager with anticipation with what could be in store.

Our menu for the evening was designed by Ravineesh Dayal and Kathryn Murphy.



Linen tablecloths, flower arrangements and soft lighting on the individual tables greeted us. Not to mention the array of hospitality wait persons all around and their supervising instructor.

A printed menu was placed on each seat which offers a choice in each course. However, as this is a training restaurant, we do not get a choice but is only given what is placed in front of us. However, they aim to ensure that each table gets at least one of each choice depending on the numbers on the table of course.

If there are only two of you and three choices, you will only get to try 2 our of the 3. Unfortunately for us, there were more choices in food that there were us in numbers.

We started off with bread rolls with butter.

Appetiser - bruschetta (with tomato, garlic and spanish onions)

This was a decent effort and was a nice start.

Appetiser - Curry Puffs (with spicy coriander chutney)

Didn't seem to blend well together, but individually were tasty.
Entree - Pear, Walnut and Parmesan Salad

A light and sweet salad with the crunchiness of the walnuts for a contrast in texture.

Entree - Roast Pumpkin Soup

Rich and creamy, smooth in texture. Superb!

Main Course - Steamed Mussels spaghetti in cream & white wine sauce

Main Course - Braised lamb shanks (with red wine jus and mashed potatoes)

This was really good. Tender and the meat just melts in your mouth and slides off the bone. The red wine jus gave it a bold hearty taste and mashed potatoes was the perfect accompaniment.

Dessert - Indian flavoured ice cream (with raspberry coulis and cats tongue)

You could definitely taste the Indian flavour in this. Yum!

Dessert - Orange and almond cake (with orange sauce and cream)

Another yummy dessert as well.

Given that this was a training school and restaurant, we definitely enjoyed our meals and although there were 1 or two mishaps (eg. my company had drops of water spilled on his pants by accident!), I would definitely come again.