The Hotel Management Tourism Faculty of UPH had a creative method to provide F&B managerial experience for students before they dive in the real world. The Gala Lunch program is a final test for the course Food N Beverages Management since 2005 and has been developed according to industry development. This year’s Gala Lunch raised the theme of ‘European Cuisine’. This course has more or less 240 students that are divided into four sessions held on 14, 17, 19, and 21 June 2019 and is held at Restoran Fakultas Pariwisata UPH Lippo Village, Karawaci, Tangerang.

According to Dr. Amelda Pramezwary, A.Par., M.M., the Head of Tourism Management Study Program of UPH, “This practical test is important because it gives hands-on experience for the students, useful in shaping and stimulating the abilities of F&B managerial. In this, students who underwent practical learning about basic food production, basic bakery, and pastry production, kitchen management, food service, beverage service, and hotel accounting are asked to create a restaurant with different themes, asking them to apply what they have learned.”

Gala Lunch’s first session invited Jari Singkar, the Ambassador of Finland for Indonesia, Matteo Meacci, the Executive Chef of Hotel Aryaduta Jakarta, Alain Krumm, the Executive Chef of Hotel Aryaduta Lippo Village, Denny Harianta, the Learning and Development Manager of Hotel Ciputra, as well as Stephanie Riady and Ir. Budhi T. Yuwono, the rector leaders of Universitas Pelita Harapan. The students also invited their parents or family members for the event so that they can enjoy the food as well as see the results of their students’ study at the Tourism Faculty of UPH.

The subtheme of the Gala Lunch is also varied from Western Europe, Bavarian, Greece (Southern and Southeast Europe), and Scandinavian. The event started with the Scandinavian theme taking the title of ‘UTSöKT’ – Unforgettable Scandinavian Experience. 57 students from two classes worked together in preparation, starting from cooking, decorating, and serving.

In this event, the students served food that matches different nuances such as countryside, outdoor, and natural in order to represent Scandinavian’s nuances through the concept of ‘Rustic’. Scandinavian is also a combined region of different countries such as Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, with additional countries such as Iceland and Finland, therefore the characteristics of each country became the background of this theme.

Those five countries have their own uniqueness. This has become a challenge for the students in preparing everything including choosing dishes for their menu. This was revealed by Emily, the Head Event Coordinator of the Gala Lunch. She said, “In the menu selection process, the challenge is in combining the elements from the five countries. They used fermentation in their ingredients and the ingredients were also difficult to gather. However, we discussed so that we can decide the dishes that are authentic and yet is still palatable for the locals.”

Taking several references for inspiration, the final menu included Smorrebrod (Appetizer), which is a butter sandwich of Scandinavia, Pinaattikeitto (Soup), which is a Finland spinach food, Biff à la Lindström (Main Course), which is a classical Sweden beef burger, Nordic Summer (Dessert), which is a Norwegian almond cake, and Svenska Vlaggan and Viking’s Blood, which are mocktail drinks. Through the menu, the students successful served the tastes from the five countries.

Through the Gala Lunch project, students learned how to manage a restaurant, starting from its decoration, menu, set-up, and service by adding the uniqueness from a region or a country. The Gala Lunch project is aimed to understand the reach of the course taken, as well as preparing the students for internship in their next semester.