Be it the intricate detail of a single plate or the co-ordination of serving a thousand meals, the kitchen is a place of comfort, confidence and creativity for Udith Hewa.
The executive chef of Creative Catering, which runs the kitchens at Awapuni Raceway, has travelled the world in the past 25 years, honing a craft that can be adapted for cruise ship hordes, an airline service, a Hawke’s Bay vineyard or an air force base in Manawatū.
Hewa is at ease working at a scale that is terrifying for those of us outside the hospitality industry who experience pride and relief when able to time the potatoes and peas to be plated together for a family meal.
“If I cook for 400 and if I cook for 200, and I cook for 500, it’s the same to me. It’s just adding the volume,” he said nonchalantly.
“To me it’s not a big issue, the numbers. It’s how we set up and how we deliver. Each and every person has a role to play.”
Warwick Smith/Stuff
Creative Catering executive chef Udith Hewa with his eye-popping “Battel of the Ranges”.
For the Made in Manawatū – Plate of Origin competition, a celebration of the region’s cuisine and food producers, Hewa only needed to think of one meal and two guests – the judges.
He actually submitted a full three-course meal and the dessert was singled out as a finalist in the formal dining category.
His “Battel of the Ranges”, consisting of orange curd cake, Ruahine region rhubarb comport, raspberry mousse, and raspberry and orange jelly, was the only dessert among the six category finalists.
It was also the only finalist dish the public weren’t able to sample or vote on through September given Hewa worked in catering and not at a restaurant.
Warwick Smith/Stuff
A treat for the eyes; orange curd cake, Ruahine region rhubarb comport, raspberry mousse, and raspberry and orange jelly.
He entered Plate of Origin to “do something nice and bring the name up for the company”, and tried to evoke the view of the ranges from the racecourse in the presentation.
The bright, intricate dish, with its tempered sugar spirals and vibrant green coral tuile garnish, looks like New Year’s Eve at the very second the clock strikes 12.
“That’s the thing I want to bring – wow factor. Anything nowadays, before we eat it we be tasting by the eyes.
“The main thing is neatness, delivery, everything is together.”
The rhubarb, orange and other fruit in the dish were sourced from Riverlea, while the other ingredients came from local suppliers Gilmours and Bidfood.
Warwick Smith/Stuff
The various components of Hewa’s “Battel of the Ranges” before being plated.
Originally from Sri Lanka, Hewa has been at Creative Catering for two years.
Leading a large team meant there was a fair amount of management to his role. He enjoyed being able to take a different angle and apply different concepts through the Plate of Origin challenge.
“When you do something in competition, especially like in Plate of Origin, you have to do something intricate, and not what we do ordinarily. That’s my main focus.”
Hewa said the sugar spirals, made by heating isomalt to 130 degrees, before colouring, then folding under heat lamps, was a widely practised technique.
But as Stuff observed, it took a deft and delicate touch – and two pairs of gloves for Hewa to withstand the heat of the liquid candy while he manipulated it.
Warwick Smith/Stuff
Hewa started as a kitchen-hand when he was 18 and said there were many months of graft before he was handed a knife.
Hewa has cheffed on 2000-passenger cruise ships, responsible for six tonnes of food, helped make 1500 meals a day as a pastry and dessert chef for Oman Air, and in New Zealand has worked at Craggy Range in Hawke’s Bay, Fergburger in Queenstown, and was first lured to the Manawatū to be head chef at Ōhakea air force base.
He said there was often an impulse among chefs to keep moving, to pursue new challenges, collect ideas, and stay on top of techniques and trends.
While in Manawatū he has kept in regular contact with industry friends throughout the world and completes courses online.
Hewa was proud of the changes he had implemented at Creative Catering, which had a strong focus on using raw materials, such as making their own breads and desserts from scratch.
Warwick Smith/Stuff
His Plate of Origin dish won’t feature at the awards function, which Hewa is catering, but he said clients would be able to request it for functions if they wish.
He was also clearly thrilled with his “right hand”, young chef Chris Doidge, 25, who joined the team almost a year ago and had made great strides.
“I had to get a recipe book because I had so many little post-it notes,” Doidge said. “I’d scribbled on all of them. Now I’ve got four different books.
“They’re not all full yet, but sorted into different categories of cooking. I’m always learning.”
Hewa, Doidge and their team will be catering the Plate of Origin awards function on Wednesday night at Awapuni Racecourse, which is being hosted by Kiwi comic Te Radar.
Hewa was still developing the menu for the three-course dinner, and though his Battel of the Ranges wouldn’t feature, guests could be confident he would be devising dishes with “wow factor”.
Tickets are on sale through eventbright.co.nz
