A culinary trip of a lifetime
A group of AUT students recently returned from an extraordinary experience in Europe.
The four young people attended the Worldchefs Congress 2026 in Cardiff and then experienced and learned from top-notch restaurants, food markets and chefs across London and Paris.
The trip was paid for by their own fundraising, including making and selling 6000 Christmas mince pies.
Student Chamela Ratnayake says the highlight for him was being surrounded by chefs from every corner of the world who shared the same passion.
“It reminded me that hospitality is more than a career, it's a global family built on generosity, respect, and a willingness to share knowledge.”
Particularly inspiring was executive chef at The River Café, Sian Wyn Owen, who spoke in Cardiff about how the restaurant creates two brand new menus from scratch every day – an exceedingly rare and difficult thing to do.
She also talked about how the Michelin-star restaurant is successful while having a positive working environment and a high proportion of female workers.
This struck a chord with the students who introduced themselves afterwards and took up an offer of work experience at the famous London establishment.
Ratnayake says the experience was incredible.
“What stood out most was the respect they had for their ingredients and for one another. The level of consistency, teamwork, and attention to detail was remarkable.”
Top tier restaurants in London
AUT Lecturer Geoff Scott organised the trip and travelled with the students, arranging for them to visit restaurants of one, two and three Michelin-star quality in London – not just as diners but as professional chefs, there to learn and observe.
Scott says the students started shy but quickly learned to network, getting kitchen tours and meeting owners and top chefs.
"Dining in a Michelin starred restaurant can be intimidating, initially the students weren't quite sure which cutlery to use first, when to unfold your napkin and what side is your bread plate,” Scott says.
They started with Pied à Terre, the oldest Michelin star in the city, where the owner showed them photographs of when he established the restaurant and talked about what it was like.
Top of the students’ bucket list was to visit celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck, and Scott kept their visit a surprise from them until the last minute.
Blumenthal is famous for his multisensory dining that uses science and storytelling.
The experience was “mind blowing”, Scott says, with diners given an envelope with a story inside and a magnifying glass and map, "and you had to discover the journey that you were about to go on".
The students also visited the three-Michelin star Restaurant Gordon Ramsay and attended Afternoon Tea at The Ritz, for which one needs to book months in advance.
Scott had arranged for the students to meet with the head tea sommelier as they dined in the famous open-air pavilion.
There was a harp playing on arrival, staff wore tails with polished buttons and customers were “dripping with diamonds”.
The freshest produce
Being a top chef is not just working in a kitchen but also knowing and sourcing the best ingredients.
Geoff Scott knew a Kiwi friend who was a scallop freediver in Devon - and it turned out he was delivering scallops to Wales.
He brought a crate of live, still clapping, fresh scallops for an impromptu gourmet tasting in the loading bay of the Worldchefs Congress convention centre.
While in London, one of Britain’s leading authorities on fresh seafood showed the students around the Billingsgate Fish Market.
The next day they got the inside scoop at the famous Smithfield Market meat market, which dates back to the 11th Century and is on the site where Sir William Wallace was hung, drawn and quartered.
Visiting Paris: the unexpected icing on the cake
At the end of their London tour, the students decided to see Paris and to visit Ferrandi, a famous French culinary and hospitality school in Paris.
They had met some Ferrandi students at the Worldchefs Congress and were invited to be shown around. They had tastings in the chocolate room and saw its fine dining training restaurant.
They then met up with Geoff Scott for a final meal in the two-star Michelin restaurant David Toutain that had not been planned.
“The experience was superb, and the students could clearly articulate why for them it was the best they had dined in. And that for me was a light bulb moment: they actually knew, by the time they got to Paris, they knew exactly the difference between what was excellent and what was good - on a Michelin level."
An inspirational journey
All along the way the students rubbed shoulders and talked with top chefs and people in the culinary world, who were all gracious with their time and friendly.
"There's an amazing sort of friendship behind the scenes in those places," Geoff Scott says.
“And they realised, actually, these older people, these older chefs are chefs. They have trained in kitchens, they've cut their fingers, they've burnt their hands, they've been there, they've done that, and they speak the same language as these young guys."
The students say they are excited and inspired to pursue culinary careers.
Student Zea Balgos says meeting world-class chefs made her goals feel achievable and increased her standards.
“This trip took me from just learning recipes to truly understanding the industry.”