About 140 people attended the dinner on Saturday night at Drysdale hosted by the famous Frenchie and local hospitality students and chefs. 

“The menu has a lot of inspiration from the market, I got lots of different ideas to make the menu a bit different. The ideas come from the market because you can see if the vegetables are nice, they’re shiny and bright,” Passard said. 

The chef brought two of his own sous chefs to Tasmania to work with about 50 apprentice chefs and four teachers.

Passard has no other commitments while in Australia and will only visit Tasmania.

The idea for Passard to come to Launceston stemmed from the TAFE’s tourism and hospitality education manager Christopher McGimpsey, the school’s division manager Maree Gerke said. 

“He went overseas to talk to chefs about the opportunities here in Tasmania and how they could help give back and mentor them in Tasmania. The chefs were really taken by the opportunity to inspire the next generation,” she said. 

The event was a once in a life time opportunity for the students, she said.

“People from all over Australia are here. It’s not very often you get a chef from France cooking here in Launceston.”

Third-year apprentice at Stillwater, Rizgar Kilinc, said he was excited by the opportunity. 

“It means that I get to learn new things and work with new people. It’s amazing being able to work with a three-star Michelin Chef and learning French techniques,” he said.  

Cataract on Paterson’s head chef Chris Williams jumped at the opportunity to work next to the cooking royalty. 

“Just watching these other chefs you can see the passion that comes out of them and their appreciation for simple vegetables,” Williams said.

Passard he really enjoyed cooking with the team. 

“We have been really well received. Everyone was really excited to work with us and we can see that all the people that are working here just love what they’re doing. They’re doing it with all their hearts and that is the most important thing,” Passard said.