To keep up-to-date with the latest culinary, pastry and bakery trends, IDE invites and collaborates on a regular basis with internationally celebrated chefs, many of whom have been awarded Michelin stars or Meilleur Ouvrier de France (aka - MOF – “Best Craftsman of France”) recognition. Students also get the unique opportunity to interact with our guest chefs and learn to prepare some of their signature dishes. Previous guests at IDE Hong Kong have included the likes of Bruno Menard (3* Michelin), Fabrice Vulin (2* Michelin), Thierry Marx (2* Michelin), Christian Têtedoie (MOF & 1* Michelin), Richard Ekkebus (2* Michelin), Thierry Drapeau (2* Michelin), Patrick Jeffroy (2* Michelin), Jean-Rémi Caillon (2* Michelin), Serge Granger (MOF), Frédéric Jaunault (MOF), Benoit Dewitte (1* Michelin), Olivier Elzer (1* Michelin) and many other highly talented culinary, pastry and bakery chefs.

Being one of the most comprehensive culinary programmes, the Disciples Escoffier Diploma Programs are rarely held in Hong Kong that is suitable for a novice cook. It will also be a great opportunity for those who are interested in culinary and want to take it to the next level, but cannot fly to take overseas courses.

We conduct classes in pristine modern facilities in collaboration with our local partners. To create an optimum learning environment, our students benefit from individual workstations.

We aim to provide students with practical, vocational skills that are in high demand within the fine dining and luxury hospitality industry. From the first class onwards, students work with high-quality equipment, learning and developing essential techniques through cumulative practice. Tastings and instructor feedback sessions are integrated into the curriculum to anchor the skills and techniques learned.

Worried that you won’t be able to do it? Fear not – we will be with you every step of the way! We ensure that class sizes are small, with no more than 16 people in each. You will get regular feedback and support from teaching staff throughout the class. Most IDE students start as beginners, and the keys to success are simply a strong motivation and focus!

Each class begins with a short explanation from our instructors, describing the relevant vocabulary and the French culinary traditions behind each dish and recipe.

Our chef-instructors then proceed to demonstrate the recipes that will later be carried out by the students. Every class teaches students specific skills, and the rationales behind various cooking techniques are discussed. In cooking, timing is always a critical element, and thus the logic behind following recipe instructions in a specific order is also discussed.

We seek to inspire new careers, and are eager to share with students our know-how and passion for fine cuisine and French gastronomy. By teaching the building blocks of Western cuisine, our long-term goal is to give aspiring chefs the fundamental techniques and skillset from which they can improvise and explore their own culinary creativity.

The curriculum is based entirely on the traditions and fundamentals of French gastronomy. While integrating some of the latest techniques, equipment and plating trends, the core programme is firmly rooted in the classic foundations of Escoffier’s “Guide Culinaire”. The cooking manual, originally published in 1903 and featuring more than 5,000 recipes, is widely considered to be the “Bible” of modern French cooking, and is still used every day by countless chefs around the world. Escoffier’s techniques and recipes, stocks and sauces, and menu composition all provide the building blocks for exploring further in all types of Western cuisines.

Cooking is not just about art, it is also very much about technique! Cooking techniques are a set of methods and procedures for preparing, cooking and presenting food. In essence, they are the building blocks from which you draw to prepare a recipe from A to Z. For instance, a chef is familiar with techniques ranging from knife skills to sauce-making, cooking methods and plating, while not forgetting “mise en place” (kitchen organization), food waste reduction, and hygiene and safety.

At IDE, teaching is very hands-on and practical, while you also have the opportunity to review the theory at home. Each class and recipe is an opportunity to develop new skills and techniques while reviewing the ones that were learned previously through cumulative practice, until they essentially become “muscle memory”.