LIFESTYLE

Cooking takes Lakshman to places

KNOWN as smiling chef, Lakshman Biswas has been in Papua New Guinea for nine years at the Holiday Inn and Suites in Port Moresby.
“As a five-year old in Calcutta, India I was more interested in playing and making good friends but at 13 years old I decided I wanted to work in the hospitality industry and travel the world.
“Cooking is my passion and I felt this was a career choice that held a bright future for me. It was an opportunity to see the world as I dreamed, and I have journeyed around the globe three times on a World Cruise as a result. Within the hospitality industry, I have worked in Qatar, Oman, India and now Papua New Guinea with the Holiday Inn and Suites, Port Moresby.
“I have also had the privilege to work with culinary greats such as the British celebrity chef Marco Pierre White who trained the famed Gordon Ramsay himself.
“I chose to stay (in PNG) as long as I have because I felt I could contribute to improving culinary standards in Papua New Guinea and improve the hospitality experiences provided. The landscape and my outlook has changed from when I started in 2013 and I have used my years to share my hospitality technique and knowledge. In my 21 years of being a chef, my best growth and expansion in experience has been here in Papua New Guinea.”
Biswas said support from the local food community meant a lot.
“At the Holiday Inn and suites Port Moresby, I personally head to market for garden produce and cook with local ingredients as it’s more sustainable and allows me to bring freshness to my dishes. Some produce I like to use that are sourced locally from Koki seafood market are mackerel, red emperor, lobsters and crabs. For vegetables I prefer Gordons Market where I also source fresh fruits and leafy greens.”
He said his daily lunch chef’s combo specials was inspired by his past global experiences.
“I am inspired by my past global experiences, and put together star dishes I have come across in my culinary journey around the world. I like to feature Chinese, Indian, Italian, Greek, local flavours and Western favourites.
“The special includes a complimentary soft drink or fresh juice for only K39 and is great value for our guests. You can find out our daily specials by checking our Facebook page, we post the specials daily.”
Biswas said a new themed buffet dinner menu, featuring international flavours and cuisine was a great opportunity to taste flavours from around the world.
“We have Sunday roast, Italian on Monday, street food on Tuesday, Chinese on Wednesday, and national dishes on Thursday with my personal favourite, Indian curry night on Friday. The buffet features live cooking stations and is K89 per person, children 12 years and under are half price.”
His one advice to a home chef is: “The perfect scrambled eggs needs to be moist and soft. To get this consistency, you should use a double boiler, a pot of boiling water on a stove with a stainless steel basin on top will help you get the perfect consistency for this everyday breakfast staple.
He said an ingredient he could not live without was coriander.
“I love Ccoriander, it elevates the flavour of any dish and brings a powerful fresh taste.”
Chef Lakshman said one could not go wrong by having a smile on your face.
“I smile to make my colleagues and guests happy, that’s the secret.”
You can experience Chef Lakshman’s menus at the Holiday Inn & Suites Port Moresby. The hotel has a host of events and accommodation packages for this month where you will get the chance to meet Chef Lakshman and hopefully catch a beam from the Smiling Chef himself.
Hotel manager Rashmi Tulsiani said: “Chef Lakshman is a bright, talented and self-motivated Chef with strong management skills and a successful track record of impressing guests in his short time with us. We are privileged to have him on our team.”

•  Story and picture supplied by the Holiday Inn and Suits

Answering 111 calls from Central

By LULU MARK
THE distinctive green, yellow and white ambulances of St John are a common site around the capital city, Port Moresby.
No matter where one lives in the National Capital District (NCD), be it Hanuabada, Boroko, Morata, Gerehu or Gereka it is certain that if you call the emergency 111 hot line there will be an ambulance at your door within half an hour.
St John staff are meticulous in their record keeping of kilometres travelled, the number of call-outs, patient complaints etc., and if asked they can tell you the average time taken to reach patients in any area of Port Moresby.
However, it is a different story in the neighbouring Central whose villages surround the city.
If St John receives an 111 emergency call from somewhere south east or north west of the national capital, for example Kwikila or Bereina, it may take up to four hours for the ambulance to reach the patient and another four to transport him/her back to Port Moresby General Hospital.
A lot could happen during that time.
Apart from the fact that this means that a patient has to wait for up to eight hours to receive the ‘emergency’ care that he/she requires, the ambulance is unavailable for any other emergency that may arise for most of the day.
This reality is not lost on the chairman of the Central Provincial Health Authority, Isikeli Taureka.
He said; “We are really very grateful for the fact that St John is there and come out to our rural health centres and aid posts.
“We are very aware of the time involved in these exercises and are happy to discuss a more efficient arrangement.
According to St John a possible solution (if there was the necessary support of course) was for St John to have what could be called ‘reservist’ ambulances in main centres operated by trained PHA staff.
In this case, when a patient falls ill or presents to a health centre, the reservist community ambulances are activated to respond.
The reservist team would initiate basic first aid and start transporting the patient to a provincial or referral hospital.
Concurrently, the St John control centre tasks an emergency ambulance from Port Moresby to meet these health centre ambulances half-way to the hospital.
Taureka agreed that if the ‘reservist’ ambulance was established the time to travel to the hospital could be reduced to up to four hours and also reduce the fatigue of the ambulance officers from long distance travel and ensure community ambulances remain close to their communities.
The St John Ambulance is ready to discuss such an arrangement with the Central and other PHAs in the country, although they are aware that there are costs involved such as ensuring adequate communications infrastructure to ensure that there is effective logistics coordination.