It sounds a bit like the famous “American dream”, and once again a forceful woman from the ranks of the Hotel Berlin, Berlin is getting herself talked about.
Susanne DeOcampo-Herrmann, sous chef at the Hotel Berlin, Berlin, was recently the only woman chosen for the squad in the German national chefs’ team. Together with her team, comprising nine cooks in all, she will be off in April to the start of the Culinary Challenge in Singapore. In the contest for the Golden Lion, one of the culinary art’s international highlights, the 30 year old sous chef is in overall charge of the “cold presentation”, a warm starter presented cold. All food, however, is always prepared across the whole team.
The culinary art’s much sought-after prize will be contested by teams from Australia, Germany, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Singapore, the Czech Republic and Wales. In the kitchen of the Hotel Berlin − whose name has been a byword of many years for the preparation of exquisite food − Susanne DeOcampo-Herrmann is in daily training anyway. She is the right hand of the chief executive, providing him with operational support, and is in charge of training new recruits. She is responsible for implementing food-safety standards, while being at the same spokeswoman and representative of the kitchen team, which comprises 30 staff and temporary workers.
The hotel’s sous chef learned her trade by working her way up from the bottom and has pursued further training continually through a large number of international jobs. At 14 years old Susanne DeOcampo-Herrmann was already working, part-time out of the school, as a dishwasher. During her training as a chef at the Esplanade Holiday Inn she won second place in the famous REWE Cup in Berlin, coming Number Four in the whole of Germany. After her training she gained her initial experience at Cape Cod in the USA, where she worked as chef de partie in a fish restaurant. Back in Berlin, the woman with the exotic name was engaged as a private chef for the American ambassador.
With a full-time grant for Johnson and Wales University in America from the knife manufacturer F. Dick in her pocket, she took her BA after only 21 months. Later Susanne DeOcampo-Herrmann worked as a freelance sous chef at Columbia University in New York until, now married to an American of Philippino origin and a mother of two, she returned to Germany in 2009. Since October last year she has been presenting her creations to enthusiastic guests at the Hotel Berlin, Berlin.
Susanne DeOcampo-Herrmann, sous chef at the Hotel Berlin, Berlin, was recently the only woman chosen for the squad in the German national chefs’ team. Together with her team, comprising nine cooks in all, she will be off in April to the start of the Culinary Challenge in Singapore. In the contest for the Golden Lion, one of the culinary art’s international highlights, the 30 year old sous chef is in overall charge of the “cold presentation”, a warm starter presented cold. All food, however, is always prepared across the whole team.
The culinary art’s much sought-after prize will be contested by teams from Australia, Germany, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Singapore, the Czech Republic and Wales. In the kitchen of the Hotel Berlin − whose name has been a byword of many years for the preparation of exquisite food − Susanne DeOcampo-Herrmann is in daily training anyway. She is the right hand of the chief executive, providing him with operational support, and is in charge of training new recruits. She is responsible for implementing food-safety standards, while being at the same spokeswoman and representative of the kitchen team, which comprises 30 staff and temporary workers.
The hotel’s sous chef learned her trade by working her way up from the bottom and has pursued further training continually through a large number of international jobs. At 14 years old Susanne DeOcampo-Herrmann was already working, part-time out of the school, as a dishwasher. During her training as a chef at the Esplanade Holiday Inn she won second place in the famous REWE Cup in Berlin, coming Number Four in the whole of Germany. After her training she gained her initial experience at Cape Cod in the USA, where she worked as chef de partie in a fish restaurant. Back in Berlin, the woman with the exotic name was engaged as a private chef for the American ambassador.
With a full-time grant for Johnson and Wales University in America from the knife manufacturer F. Dick in her pocket, she took her BA after only 21 months. Later Susanne DeOcampo-Herrmann worked as a freelance sous chef at Columbia University in New York until, now married to an American of Philippino origin and a mother of two, she returned to Germany in 2009. Since October last year she has been presenting her creations to enthusiastic guests at the Hotel Berlin, Berlin.
