Short story “The junior chef”

My teacher, has been a guide for me, challenging me to broaden my horizon and consider possibilities outside of my comfort zone while using the English language. It’s something we have in common: motivating our clients to reach a greater level of consciousness, regardless of their purpose or means.

Sometimes he gives me assignments where my creativity and language proficiency is tested. This one required me to write a short story revealing three aspects of myself:

• A hobby
• A professional experience & workplace
• An allergic reaction

This tale covers all three. Can you recognise them?

This morning, we received a new table reservation for four people from Bruges. They were planning to visit Brussels on their gourmet tour, and this would be their first restaurant. Is it another visit from food critics from the Michelin guide or Gault Millau?

We had already lost a Michelin star last year because we forgot to mention certain food allergy references on our menu card. Unfortunately, one of the critics got ill after eating his dessert although, he had mentioned it while ordering. The waiter hadn’t paid attention at the time and forgot to note down the details. Needless to say, this has put us in a bit of a pickle.

As the chef of the restaurant ‘Comme Chez Moi’, I ended up finding myself in a thigh spot. When we, as a team discussed the issues, we also discovered an incompetency in our team: there was no one really specialised in dishes dealing with allergies and intolerances. We needed to find a capable cook who could make sure that this never could happened again.

It took the owner quite some time to call people within his network and ended up giving me the references from a student at the hotel school ‘Ter Duinen” in Koksijde. Maybe he could bail us out.

I would have been tempted to hire him on the spot, if these documents were legit. They were impressive, high scores over the entire line, successful internships in Paris, France; ‘Le Train Blue’, ‘Le Bistrot du Maquis ‘ and Rome, Italy; Marzapane. He had specialised in allergies and intolerances and had become rather creative with the replacement products.

After a short conversation with the team, I choose to take a few days off to visit his school on the Belgian coast. I had learned the trade of the business at the same institution, twenty years ago. How many professors and teachers would still be working there? Would they even remember me? The school management had changed recently, and the rumours were promising.

After making an anonymous appointment in the school’s restaurant, I had ordered a menu, based on specific dishes from our menu card and asked if they would be prepared by Simon. I mentioned ‘my’ allergies to wheat, soya and dairy, to raise the difficulty level. This would give me an edge in the assessment.

When I left home a few days later, it only took me only two hours to drive up there. Normally with all the congestions on the motorways around Brussels, my normal travel time would be about three hours. A good sign?

I arrived too early and decided to enjoy a cup of coffee on a sunny terrace at the coastline. The view was brilliant, the sun, sea and a warm breeze on my face helped me to really slow down and clear my mind.  The long hours at the restaurant were becoming more and more difficult to deal with as I grew older.

Walking up the driveway of the school, I saw the renovated buildings. The rumours had been true, the new management had done wonders.

The restaurant had also changed significantly; a new bar, a complete change of scenery, stable working internet, really checking all the boxes if one needs to show off as a reference in the business. When the waiter showed me my table, a professor walked in the space and recognised my face, there goes my cover…

We started talking and he inquired what motivated me to be there. Straight to the point, just as I knew him. There was no reason to hide my interest in Simon, so I expressed the desire to test his culinary skills with the preordered menu. He just smiled and left me alone to enjoy the meal.

After lunch, I enjoyed a little digestive, a twenty-five-year-old Calvados. It was mind-blowing what Simon had prepared and I had to admit that I loved his cooking. There were subtilities in the dishes that I didn’t even know how to prepare. This guy was the real deal!

His professor joined me at the table with the bottle of Calvados and offered me a room in the hotel part of the school. Safety first, driving and drinking will never be good match and I admit that the alcohol level in my blood was rather high at that moment. Secondly, I had a few days off, so why not spend the night in a faculty I once called home. It was for free anyway.

We had a very long conversation. He talked very openly about Simon’s good and bad habits, skills and praised him on several occasions. He even suggested that he could be better than me today, even with all my experience. His only real disadvantage that he was easily distracted and needed firm guidance to focus on tasks. These facts are crucial to me, as his future chef.

Simon was called in by his teacher and joined us at the table. We got to know each other better and a small amount of alcohol really helped him to open up. He started to fill me in on his life, hobbies, interests and what his future expectations were. I really found a match for the opening that we had in our kitchen. His personality would easily fit in.

The owner had given me free reign earlier to offer him the job if his potential lived up to my expectations. Simon was really blown of his socks, when we discussed the opportunity. I put him at ease and proposed we would continue talking over breakfast the next morning. It would be a formality, but I sensed his reluctance and preferred that he could sleep on a decision that could change his life.

The next day, after quite a few questions to fill in the blanks, he eagerly accepted the position. He would do his next internship in my kitchen and would join the team after his graduation.

The day after, I said goodbye to Simon and his teacher and headed back home. The be-all and end-all of this story, I was confident that this new team member would help us to restore our reputation and third Michelin star.

All references to people and places is completely fictional.

Did you recognise the three included elements? Make sure to let me know in the comments what you identified.