Farewell Belfast

Hi, Leeann here from the Culloden estate and spa Belfast. Can’t believe this will be my last blog. The four and half months has flown by so quickly. Its been madness since I done my last blog as Christmas is upon us. The head chef trained me on procure wizard before he went on holidays, so I could do orders for the whole week he was gone. It was great experience learning different things then just cooking as one day I might be a head chef and I need to know how to order and find the best price with different suppliers.

We started prepping for a new menu on Monday as we were launching our new menus on Saturday. There was two menus festive menu and a la carte menu. The team and I were very excited our menu on Thursday been printed as there was a lot of work gone into the menus since September. The menus were a great success with the customers, we done about 800 covers for the weekend and we got great feedback from the customers.

Every year the Culloden switch on their Christmas lights. All the locals and guests come down to the Cultra inn and got refreshments such as tea, coffee, hot chocolate, homemade shortbread and mince pies. it was a special night for everyone as it was start of Christmas and everyone was enjoying the night with family and friends. Santa came to visit the children in Cultra inn all day Sunday and will do so for the whole of December on Sundays.

I have really enjoyed my stay at the Culloden estate and learnt a lot about myself from what I am capable of and how I can learn more from my mistakes. I have made great friends for life in Belfast. On my last night which was Sunday myself and a few friends went to union street in Belfast city for drinks and then to the gremlin nightclub. Because of Covid my experience has been different we had a lot of staff problems which meant staff were under a lot of stress. Everyday was uncertain as you didn’t know how many staff you would have daily. Stock was difficult to get which was slower coming in due to Brexit. I have learnt to have more confidence in my own capabilities. It took me a while to settle in Belfast, but I’m delighted that I chose Belfast for my work experience as I was able to travel home when I was off I had the best of both worlds and have made life long friends.