Restaurant Support

Sally Handoko

Sally Handoko is a popular name in the Dubai culinary industry. She started her career in the Four Seasons in Indonesia and edged into the pastry kitchen. From a very young age itself, Sally was fond of baking cakes and it was only natural for her to choose baking over cooking. Her passion for learning more and her love for world-class patisserie led her ways to Dubai after working in Indonesia for a few years. In Dubai, Sally worked with JW Marriot, Fairmont and The Conrad before her current position with ICCA Dubai as a Pastry Chef Instructor. She left the kitchen at the peak of her career as an Executive Pastry Chef to pursue her long term interest in teaching. Despite her successful position in the kitchen hierarchy, Sally always wanted to develop her career as a culinary instructor so that she could share knowledge and inspire the next round of professionals in the field.

Vrushali Jadhav

Developing a strong affinity towards cooking at a very young age made Vrushali do her Bachelor’s in Hotel Management from IHM Goa, in order to pursue her passion to have a career in the world of culinary. Her dedication and commitment to excel have made her a name in the Culinary Fraternity in the UAE. Vrushali’s Professional career started with the Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts, spotting immense talent in her which got her the opportunity to be a part of the pre-opening team at the prestigious Madinat Jumeirah Hotel in 2004. She has taken challenges and opportunities as they came, moving from Jumeirah Group to Dusit Thani and then to The Palace DownTown, where she worked as the Head Pastry Chef for over 7 years making the hotel a popular F&B offering in Dubai. After years of industry experience, she embarked on the teaching path and joined ICCA Dubai to share her knowledge with the aspiring young chefs. Later on, she also became a certified Gelato Trainer by Carpigiani Gelato University, along with being a Patisserie Instructor at ICCA. In her journey as a Pastry Chef, she has traveled to Switzerland, Malaysia and Italy for work and training purposes with world-class master chefs.

Sergio Freitas

Sergio’s culinary career began early on, inspired by his parents and their love & respect for quality & traditions, leading him to take up on culinary arts as his career path. After graduating from HTA School of Culinary Arts, South Africa, Sergio started his culinary journey at the Michelangelo Hotels under the guidance of the celebrity chef, Andrew Atkinson, the Executive Chef of the property. He developed and extended his skills there to all the outlets of the hotel, enabling him to be a part of a new opening team of The Fairway Hotel and Spa. Spotting immense talent in him, he was soon promoted to the position of Sou Chef under Chef Jean – Pierre Siegenthaler, in which he continued pleasing the palates of the hotel’s most exclusive clients. In 2012, Sergio was given the opportunity to be the Senior Sou Chef at a well-known catering company in South Africa, where he was soon promoted to the position of Executive Chef. Apart from all these achievements, with his hard work and dedication, he also owned 33% of the business at the age of 28. During this period, he launched many International brands in the culinary business, catered for celebrities and participated in events for the president of South Africa on several occasions. He has also been featured on TV shows and Radio programs promoting the love for food. Outside his catering business, Sergio worked closely with a company called Mess, which provided soup kitchens around the Johannesburg, feeding the homeless. A cause close to his heart; cooking, comfort and care allow him to channel his culinary expertise for the aid of those in needs. Sergio always wanted to give back to the industry that gave him all that he has dreamt of, and that’s why decided to teach and joined the ICCA Dubai as a Chef Instructor to share his knowledge with the future of the culinary industry.

Adam Jonck

Chef Adam Jonck started his culinary journey with the South African Military and gained rich experience over a period of time. He then moved to Cape Town where he joined The Erinvale Estate Hotel as a Chef De Partie where he worked his way up through the ranks to Sous Chef and then moved to Devon Valley Estate Hotel as Junior Sous Chef under the renowned Austrian Chef Marcus Scrogenbegger. With over 26 years of international experience, Chef Adam has worked under several International Chefs and in renowned hospitality brands such as the Mount Nelson Hotel, Princess Cruises, Nagata Game Safari Lodge amongst others. He is a City & Guilds London, Certified Hot & Cold Kitchen Chef instructor at the ICCA Dubai, a member of The South African Chefs Association and WorldChefs.

Giovanni Depergola

Giovanni Derpergola, aka Mr. G has been working in the F&B industry for over 20 years. He was involved in the launch of Bar operations in the UK. He was actively involved with the MTV Awards in Lisbon running a full team of 50 bartenders for the big party at the Pavilion hosting 4,000 guests, the Lez Embiez party by Pernod Ricard for the annual Sales and Marketing convention in France which involved a bar set up for 1,500 guests; Poland for the ICE (International Cocktail Experience program) run by World Wide Cocktail Club in London, training then over 250 bartenders from UK, Italy and other part of EU. He was also appointed by the London Club International (LCI) to be a part of the core team to launch their newest Casino collection across UK opening and train a total of 120 F&B staff for 3 Casinos in Manchester, Leeds 235 and London. Since then, Mr. G has trained more than 1500 F&B staff from various Hotel Groups and Bars across the Gulf region, Africa and Asia. Atlantis the Palm Jumeirah, Hilton, Jumeirah Group, Fairmont, Starwood, Marriott, Melia, Waldorf Astoria The Palm and Jas Hospitality. His attitude, charisma and knowledge make him one of the most respected and well-known trainers around the MENA region. In 2016, he co-founded Alembic – A Creative Drinks Agency that specializes in the design, development, and marketing of quality drinks education & experiences in the MENA region. He quickly positioned the agency as the leaders and providers of turnkey solutions in Designer Drinks & Bar Set up, right from conceptualization to design & development and training to deliver at the highest levels of quality, consistency and innovation.

Julitta Fernandes

Praveen P. Gopinath

Praveen is a culinary professional with well over 20 years of hands-on experience in the industry, who moved up the career ladder all the way from a Commis Chef level to Head Chef.  During his career, he has worked with several talented chefs that has helped him climb the brigade. Holding a Diploma in Hotel Management and Catering Technology from India as well as AH & LA, United States of America, he started his career with the Metropolitan Dubai back in the year 2000. He then moved on to the Cruise Line Industry with Oceania Cruise Lines, where he further moved up the brigade as Sous Chef and then as the Head Chef in the Hotels & Resorts. Praveen also holds an extensive experience of over 11 years in the Airline Catering Industry with Etihad Airways, right before joining Team ICCA as a Chef Instructor where he now imparts his knowledge and experiences from his long career to the young chefs passionate about joining the industry.

Suunil Murudkar

Chef Suunil G Murudkar is a culinary expert, chef by profession, food blogger and photographer and a Hospitality Entrepreneur. He loves to explore and experiment variety of dishes and read about food history and stories most often around ingredients, cuisines, and the people who cook them. His passion for food developed seeing his mother cooking in the kitchen as he was the youngest child just being around her. He brings with him more than a decade of experiences including running his own business as an entrepreneur - ‘Breakfastwalla’. He has honed his skills not only in cooking but also in running a full-fledged kitchen right from planning and suggesting the menu, working on the recipes, planning procurement of materials & ingredients, buying, costing, training staff, packing the food quality check and ensuring timely deliveries. Suunil was also a core member of Indian food Trail who promotes Indian food from various provinces and encourages home chefs, apart from being a freelance food photographer and a private photography teacher to many and has assisted several chefs and channels for food photography and videos. Apart from holding a Bachelor's Degree in Commerce and a Diploma in Advertising & Marketing, Suunil's love for food today has had him even complete his Diploma in Hospitality and a Masters in U.S Cheese Program.

Nasarene Jeddy Dhanki

Nasarene has been teaching cake decoration and sugarcraft in Dubai for well over 25 years and is a certified instructor by City and Guilds, London and British Sugarcraft Guild. She found her passion for sugar art through another field of interest, the food industry. Coupling this with further studies, training and inherent artistic ability brings her to enjoy what she does today, baking and Sugarcrafting and training others to do so. Nasarene is also an ex PME Knightsbridge School of Cake Decorating for Professional Diploma Courses in Sugar Crafting and Cake Decoration. She is now a City & Guilds certified instructor for the Sugarcraft Program under the Sugarcraft Department at the ICCA Dubai.

Maia Tsakanova

Baking has always been a passion for Maia from her childhood which made her pursue a career in the Culinary Industry as a Pastry Chef. From being an accomplished home baker to a Head Pastry Chef at hotels and production houses such as Marriott, TGP Group and Pro Bake, she has done it all to learn and improve her skills & knowledge. Her career highlights include working as a Head Pastry Chef under the Michelin-starred Chef Thomas Muller in Georgia that pushed her to go further and explore more in the world of patisserie. Having also being trained by several renowned French Patissiers along with her fourteen years of experience working in different sectors of the industry, Maia has gained immense knowledge in the world of sugar and butter which she now shares with the students at ICCA Dubai as a Baking & Patisserie Chef Instructor.