Chef Lau’s Tips for Chef Wannabes

“Take it from the expert,” we’re often told.

I used to think one just needs to spend at least three months in culinary school to be called a chef. Until I chanced upon celebrity chef Rolando Laudico (a.k.a. Chef Lau) and learned I was wrong.

“Being a chef is not for everyone,” he said in a chance interview with the Philippines News Agency. What happens these days, according to him, is that people think being a chef is glamorous.

“In reality, it’s not,” Chef Lau emphasized, and added that people shouldn’t think he became a chef to be on television and magazines. The celebrity chef said that it takes years of hard work, and one needs to have a big heart to become a chef because he/she might be easily get discouraged.

Having said that, I asked him if someone wouldn’t end up becoming a chef if he/she is so passionate about cooking.

“Sometimes, passion is not enough. You have to have endurance. It’s a very physical job,” he uttered.

Chef Lau, who served as one of the judges in MasterChef and Junior MasterChef, cited that there are many challenges in this kind of job.

As he reiterated that being a chef is not easy, he noted that it entails hard work. “The (working) hours are long, and you don’t have holidays because you still need to work,” he explained. Sometimes, too, chefs are away from their families.

He also said that food is relative, which means certain foods might be delicious for someone but for others, it’s not. The solution? Be fearless. “It’s hard to please everyone, so you just have to keep innovating. Keep being creative,” he said.

Chef Lau mentioned that one needs to have a level of creativity that cannot be learned, citing that creativity is something you cannot teach to anyone. Being artistic and creative is something that is innate in you, he added.

Top 3 tips

For chef wannabes, these are Chef Lau’s advice:

1. Be fearless.

Always try new things. “Don’t be afraid to fail because for you to become a chef, you will fail a thousand times, and that’s part of the journey,” he said. To be a chef, learn from your mistakes.

2. Be creative.

That’s what will set you apart from other chefs. Chef Lau added that if you are not creative, you’re not going anywhere.

3. Have a big heart.

You will encounter so many challenges in life. Running a restaurant or a food business is no joke. Furthermore, having a big heart, according to him, means you really want to make people happy and satisfied.

He shared that this is probably the biggest reason why he became a chef. “Because there’s no other feeling in the world like making somebody happy because of your hard work,” he told PNA.

His journey

He started cooking at the age of 8, and the first dish he tried to cook was stir fried shrimps.

“The shrimps were alive, and I forgot to cover them. So all of them jumped and ended up on the floor,” he admitted.

Cooking for him came out very naturally. “It was fun and I didn’t find it hard. So when I grew up, I realized why not have a career in cooking.”

There were no culinary schools yet during his younger years, in early 1990s. He had to work in a restaurant, and eventually, was able to study abroad. In 1998, he graduated from Culinary Institute of America. After school, the young Rolando worked in Europe and in Australia.

Then he came back in the Philippines to start a cooking career. It was in 2000 when he was able to put up his own catering business.

Fifteen years later, Chef Lau already has seven restaurants, catering business and TV shows. He’s also currently a brand ambassador for Samsung appliances.

Though he learned cooking different cuisines such as Italian, French and Chinese, his love for Filipino food didn’t change.

He said he learned cooking all by himself, through trial and error since there were no culinary schools when he was younger.

The celebrity chef we see in TV ad with his family was once a pizzaiolo (man who makes pizza) in an Italian restaurant. That’s one of the proofs he didn’t reach his status in a snap. As he said, it takes hard work.

Chef Lau, though already successful in his career, actually wanted to be a rockstar. He had a band, and up to now, once in a while, he sings at 12 Monkeys and 70s Bistro. “My love for music is the same as my love for food,” he said.

He targets promoting Filipino cuisine abroad. “I won’t stop until Filipino cuisine becomes respected globally,” Chef Lau said. (PNA) SCS/MCCA