At the three-day Food and Hotel Expo 2011, which has just been held at the Oman International Exhibition Centre in Muscat, a team of experts from Oman Air Catering’s pastry kitchen demonstrated advanced culinary skills which enthralled visitors.
The team, led by Oman Air’s head pastry chef, Harsha Ranasinghe, and supported by Fatma Al Riyami and Sampath Fernandez, tackled a range of spectacular food preparation methods, including chocolate molding and preparation, dessert plating, showpiece design and wedding cake structure techniques.
In addition to entertaining and informing visitors to the Expo, the demonstration formed a vital part of Oman Air Catering’s training and development initiative, which is spearheaded by General Manager Catering, Aaron Claxton, along with Food production Manager, Fuad Al Hinai. It also aimed to inspire the youth of Oman to consider careers within the catering industry.
Aaron Claxton commented:
“Our pastry chefs have given a superb demonstration, which not only showcased the commitment and talent for which Oman Air Catering is noted, but also gave an insight into the remarkable range of skills creativity required of the sector’s leading professionals.
“The team’s appearance at the Food and Hotels Expo 2011 was the latest in our Culinary Skills training initiative, which has also seen cross training in Bangkok and Delhi with renowned hotel groups and the deployment of Omani cooks overseas to gain hands-on exposure within very different professional environments.
“Oman Air is proud to be investing in, developing and nurturing Omani talent in this way and we look forward to continuing to produce delicious, attractive and imaginative food for our customers in Muscat and throughout our expanding international network.”
The dynamism and success of Oman Air Catering reflects the high levels of achievement found throughout the national carrier of the Sultanate of Oman. Over the last two years, the airline has introduced a spacious and luxurious fleet of long-haul Airbus A330s and state of the art Embraer E175 short-haul jets. The network has grown to 41 exciting destinations across the Middle East, South and South East Asia, North and East Africa and Europe, with the latest destination, Zurich, having been launched on December 2nd. In addition, Oman Air has pioneered complete inflight mobile phone and Wi-Fi connectivity and has unveiled brand new and highly-acclaimed First Class and Business Class lounges at Muscat International Airport. Furthermore, Oman Air has won 21 awards over the last 21 months, including ‘Best Business Class Seat in the World’, at the World Airline Awards, and has seen significant and consistent increases in passenger numbers.