TO INTEGRATE culinary mastery with academic excellence, the University partnered with international culinary institute Le Cordon Bleu to establish Le Cordon Bleu Ateneo de Manila Institute (LCBAI) which is set to offer its signature nine-month program Diplome de Cuisine in the Philippines. 

The Institute also re-launched the four-year undergraduate degree Bachelor of Science in Restaurant Entrepreneurship (BS REnt) under the John Gokongwei School of Management.

As the leading global network of culinary arts and hospitality management, Le Cordon Bleu developed the Diplome de Cuisine to teach comprehensive techniques in cuisine, gastronomy, and hospitality through an intensive and hands-on learning experience. Together with the University, the two institutions pioneered a program that integrates culinary arts with business and management in the newly offered BS REnt.

LCBAI Institute Director Liza Morales pointed out that in comparison to other culinary courses in the Philippines, BS REnt in particular trains its students to evolve into entrepreneurs who promote nation-building. 

World-class training program

Morales recounted that Le Cordon Bleu and the University started their partnership a few years before laying the foundations to what would be known as LCBAI. She added that when choosing what culinary institute to partner with, the Ateneo considered how Le Cordon Bleu is also known for its quality of global excellence and its emphasis innovation and creativity.

“Le Cordon Bleu is the same as Ateneo de Manila in many ways. It’s known for  excellence, innovation, and a wide network of alumni. We want to bring in the kind of expertise and the brand of culinary excellence that Le Cordon Bleu has in the Philippines. That’s why we have this partnership,” said Morales.

The LCBAI formally opened its doors on April 5, 2019. Starting with the four-year BS REnt degree’s launch in 2018, LCBAI now offers the Diplome de Cuisine, with the pioneer batch filling up the maximum capacity of 16 students. 

LCBAI Technical Director and Masterchef Thierry Le Baut said that this partnership gives Filipinos more opportunities to learn world-class culinary techniques in Metro Manila. 

“We are going to give exactly the same education they can take in Paris, London, [and] Australia,” he said.

The nine months spent under the Diplome de Cuisine are divided into Basic, Intermediate, and Superior levels which each take up three months of the entire program and have different areas of focus and level of difficulty as students progress. 

Morales explained that at the Basic level, students are taught the fundamentals of classic French cuisine, which are used as a foundation to learn more about a variety of recipes. The Intermediate and Superior levels give more focus on expanding their knowledge on food handling, mastering their cooking techniques, and working on flood plating techniques. 

She also mentioned that LCBAI takes pride in its intense mentorship where chefs develop close interactions with their students who learn recipes in their individual work stations.

“[The chefs] will be teaching you cooking and baking techniques that they have mastered through their years of experience. They will be by your side and at your back, while you are learning all the techniques and all the skills that you will need to learn,” said Morales.

“Not a culinary course”

Although the graduates receive diplomas from LCBAI, BS REnt Program Head Alyson Yap emphasized that BS REnt is “not a culinary course.” Unlike the Diplome de Cuisine which focuses on culinary arts, he said that the course aims to develop entrepreneurs who can start their own restaurants and create their own recipes, concepts, and the like.

According to Yap, this goal is in line with the University’s mission to contribute to nation building by helping the country’s economy through restaurant businesses: “We need less people to work for big companies, and we need more people to create their own businesses so that they can provide livelihood to more people.”

Moreover, Yap provided that the BS REnt program differentiates itself from similar courses such as hotel and restaurant management from other institutions with its three major subject categories: Culinary, Restaurant Management, and Management.

First, the Culinary subjects equip students with knowledge on food, beverage, and restaurant service. These subjects are strictly handled by LCBAI’s own chefs and are conducted in its facilities.

BS REnt sophomore Nadine Uy recounted that Le Baut would begin his two-unit French Cuisine course with a three hour demonstration on three different dishes. The students would then attempt to replicate one of the dishes for the remaining three hours.

“Honestly, kitchen class feels a little like Masterchef. [Although] it is challenging, it is also really fun and fulfilling to be able to create different kinds of food,” said Uy.

Meanwhile, the other two major categories, Restaurant Management and Management, are taught in a lecture setting. The former delves into topics that enable students to better understand the food industry like Food Quality Management and Wine Philosophy. On the other hand, the latter category builds a foundation for learning entrepreneurship skills such as Statistics and Marketing.

Other projects

Aside from the existing LCBAI facility in Loyola Heights, Morales stated that they plan to expand the Institute in Rockwell Center to make a culinary education available to aspiring students in those areas. For this reason, she said that the proposal for developing a second campus in the Ateneo Professional Schools is primarily motivated by geography.

“We all know the traffic in Metro Manila is not ideal. We wanted to bring Le Cordon Bleu Ateneo’s culinary expertise and our capacity to share our knowledge to that side of Metro Manila,” said Morales.

The University promises that both campuses will provide top-of-the-line equipment for its students with the standard, classical programs offered in both facilities. These signature programs are both the nine-month courses Diplome de Cuisine and Diplome in Patisserie, which will also be offered in the Loyola LCBAI campus starting in June 2020. 

However, Morales mentioned that the campus in Rockwell will offer new culinary experiences to its students: “In Le Cordon Bleu Ateneo Rockwell campus, we will offer Diplome de Boulangerie, which is basically bread-making. We will also have an Asian kitchen in the Rockwell campus thus we are planning to offer some courses on Asian cuisine.”

At present, she said that Le Cordon Bleu has been offering short courses that focus on basic cooking techniques and food handling every Saturday since the third quarter of 2018. She mentioned that they conducted 10 successful short courses last year, with the help of technical director Masterchef Thierry Le Baut. Among these short courses were preparing Christmas dishes and French meals.

Morales expressed that she is hoping for more people, especially those from the University, to enroll in LCBAI’s programs: “If they cannot commit to the nine-months [Diplome de Cuisine] program, they can opt for the short courses.”