On Tuesday 29th April, Colchester Institute welcomed back former student Bien Causapin for a Balkerne Restaurant takeover in partnership with Tayo by Bien.
Bien studied on the Professional Chef course at Colchester Institue between 2012 – 2014 and is now the Owner and Head Chef of Tayo by Bien on North Hill, one of the only Filipino restaurants in the east of England.
Colchester Institute Professional Chef students worked in the kitchen alongside Bien to prepare, cook and serve the food, giving them an excellent opportunity to learn more about Filipino cuisine. The chefs were also supported by Hospitality students to serve members of the public their food and drinks during a live service at the Balkerne Restaurant.
The menu consisted of king prawn inasal, relyeno wings and beef sisig tacos to start, a pork cheek adobo with soy and honey glazed charred pak choi served with pandan rice for the main course and finally a trio of desserts: Ube cheesecake, queso real ice cream & leche flan to finish.
Bein Causapin, Head Chef at Tayo by Bien said; “I loved my time here at Colchester Institute. All my teachers were really supportive and pushed me to work hard which led to me entering and winning Philadelphia Young Chef of the Year 2012. It was important to me to come back today and show the current students what you can achieve after their time at college.”
Jacob Viljoen, Level 3 Professional Chef student said; “Learning about the Filipino culture has been really fun and helped me experience something new.”
Stephanie Conway, Lecturer in Hospitality and Food Studies at Colchester Institute said; “We are so proud of our ex-student for being able to open his own Filipino cuisine Restaurant! We are very thankful for him coming back in today to work with our current students. It is great for our students and front of house and chefs, to collaborate with fantastic stakeholders like Bien.”
