:: PRUE LEITH :: Catering Academy
The Prue
Leith catering academy is a cooking
school with a difference. World-renowned chefs and experts
in the culinary world onsite, at the catering academy situated in Centurion, train students to become
experts in the culinary and hospitality fields.
The catering academy boasts with:
- A fully equipped demonstration kitchen
- Teaching kitchen
- The boma where students are taught the art of outdoor or bush cooking
- It has several lecture rooms
- One of Gauteng’s top ten restaurants, The Odd Plate
- An additional lounge area that seats 12 people
- A tea garden
- Venue where private parties, receptions and weddings can be accommodated
- Fully functional herb garden
- Swimming pool
- Adequate parking to accommodate patrons to the restaurant.
- Security walls and a security gate to ensure the safety and peace of mind for patrons frequenting the venue surrounding the premises.
- Students can also lodge at the college since limited accommodation is available for students that reside in a different province or country.
The catering academy was established in 1997and has since then grown
into a world class culinary education institute. Thirty
students are selected to attend the eighteen-month catering diploma course per semester. In total, ninety students
attend the college during the eighteen months duration of
the course.
Not all students are on the premises at one time, seeing that in the second and third semester students receive practical training off site. Many of the sites are situated in South Africa including the Grace Hotel, Ellerman House, Saxon Hotel, Walkerson, Westcliff, Cape Grace, and Haute Cabriere. International venues where students can be placed for their practical training consist of Merion Hotel, Old Bull Hotel, Park Kenmare and Sheraton.
The diploma course presented by the Prue
Leith catering academy covers all the aspects of cooking,
equipment needed, and the maintenance they require. Not
only that - students are taught how to plan and price a
menu, do stock taking, as well as financial management of
a kitchen or restaurant. Hygiene is also addressed, professional
ethics, food sanitation as well as kitchen planning and
management.
Students are taught how to handle and use knifes and about the organization of the kitchen brigade and culinary departments. Dishes or cooking styles that are addressed include, South African cooking or Pan African cooking, Bush cooking, International dishes, as well as vegetarian dishes.
One of the most exciting parts of the curriculum is the
wine course. The catering academy presents the Cape Wine Academy certificate course
and students are required to complete the course to graduate.
This course is conducted in the second semester and a lot
of emphasis is placed on the delicate balance that needs
to be established between food and wine. An optional tour
to the wine capitals of South Africa in Stellenbosch, Paarl
and Franschhoek is undertaken if a minimum of twenty students
want to attend. The cost is not included in the tuition
fee of the diploma course and students need to carry the
cost of the tour themselves.
Students that excel in the pastry department can also now
receive a diploma in pastry. The catering academy also empowers students to construct a proper
CV and teaches them interviewing skills. Because students
work onsite in some of the most renowned kitchens, lodges,
and hotels locally and internationally, they not only leave
the college with a sought after qualification; they leave
with a CV that lists practical experience at the hand of
chefs who are world renowned.
The students are placed by the college at national and
international companies because of the international reputation
of the patron of the catering academy. Many job adverts on the Internet and in the
media state that positions are available, but to Prue
Leith college graduates only.
Those students who graduate from the catering academy will receive their catering diploma if they
completed the eighteen-month course. Students also need
to achieve a minimum of 60% for both the practical and theoretical
part of the course, meet the terms of the attendance requirements
set out by the catering academy, and act in accordance with the discipline code
of the academy to receive their diploma. Contact the Prue
Leith College for Food and Wine to find out how you
can qualify for the prestigious course.
Vist the Prue Leith School for Food and Wine's website by clicking here.
