Student waiters with teachers and Director Paco - on right |
Yolanda chatting to some of the "guests" |
The tables had all been laid out as if in a restaurant by the student waiters and I was to discover that the food was cooked by student chefs... I did fleetingly wonder whether I would be rushing home to make a sandwich, but I needn't have worried! I sat on a table with the Director of the college Paco (isn't it funny that almost every Spaniard seems to be a Paco or Pepe), Michelle Baker - editor of Round Town Times and Yolanda.
Last September over 350 applications were made to fill the 20 places on offer - its a very sought after college by anyone that wants to go into the catering or hospitality industry. The courses are free, the only stipulation is that you have to be over 16 years of age and not in employment, although they do offer other shorter part time courses for those that would like to retrain. It is funded by the Generalitat Valenciana and the European Union as it is to do with the tourism sector. You can chose from many occupations including waiters, chefs, patisserie chef, receptionist and bar staff to name a few.
I must say that the waiters were all impeccably well presented and paid a lot of attention to detail - I would be delighted to be served by any one of them in a restaurant or hotel in Benidorm - which is where they hope to end up once the course is finished.... I think that some of the waiters in a few of the establishments in town would benefit to go on a similar course!
Dessert..... I certainly polished that off! |
The standard and presentation of the food was astounding, especially considering that these were students with 3 months still left to go before they complete their courses.
From what we witnessed today I shouldn´t think that any of them will have a problem finding work if they maintain the standard shown today. We were treated to some wonderful artistic tapas type starters, a paella for the main course and chocolate heaven for dessert followed by coffee and petit four.
We were asked to put forward questions and make requests to see that they understood and could deal with any queries that they may come across once they were working in the real world. At the end of the afternoon we were asked to fill out a questionnaire about all aspects of the food and service - and to be very honest.
I wonder whether Mateo from the Benidorm series attended one of these colleges - somehow I doubt it!
We ran a survey asking you about your tipping habits when on holiday - just over half that took part gave a 10% tip and a quarter either never tipped or only gave for exceptional service. It is often a source of real irritation to people who take the view that a service charge is already added onto the bill. Many a time it´s touted that tips make up part of the waiters wage - well the bosses should pay them a decent amount to begin with and not rely on the customers to make it up out of guilt that they are underpaid!