My internship at Din Tai Fung, Sunway Pyramid, was an unforgettable experience in my student life. I was assigned to three departments during my placement: front of the house, back-kitchen, and front-kitchen. My experience in all of the three departments taught me new skillsets and knowledge of a foodservice operation.

When I first came in, I was assigned to be the waitress at the outlet’s front-of-the-house. I was excited but anxious at the same time during the beginning of my internship. The first thing I initiated was to get to know my working environment and the outlet’s standard operating procedures. I also learnt how to handle the POS system. As I become more acquainted with my initial tasks, I was assigned in other operational areas of the outlet. As a waitress, attitude and etiquette are very important. The focal point for me was learning how to face unexpected situations calmly and professionally. The most memorable moments of my front-of-the-house stint was when my manager appointed me to serve Din Tai Fung’s signature dishes to respected politicians from Malaysia and Taiwan, during the Taiwan 111-Years Ceremony at JW Marriott Bukit Bintang.

Reflecting on my internship experience, the back-kitchen department was where I acquired new techniques such as beverages preparation, egg-cracking, frying, and basic cutting skills. In the back-kitchen, the SOP knowledge is essential because every single portion of the ingredients will affect the taste and quality of the food and beverages. I needed to adhere to the basic SOP, such as the preparation of raw ingredients and tackling the kitchen equipment which led to expediting the dishes upon customers’ orders. I really enjoyed the time I spent at the outlet’s frying station, as I got to learn how to fry the ingredients quickly before moving on to the next step of the dishes’ preparation. Though it was challenging when I was tasked with many orders, I managed to push myself to endure the pressure. Eventually, I was able to adapt to the outlet’s multitasking environment and therefore I felt that I matured immensely throughout this experience in the back-kitchen.

The final stint of my internship was when I worked at the outlet’s front kitchen. I was proud to be a part of the front kitchen, as I believed that this was where I excelled in my internship. The front kitchen of Din Tai Fung is responsible for the production of their signature Xiao Long Bao, dumplings, wantons, buns, and spring rolls. The core essential of the front kitchen’s production is to measure all raw ingredients accurately according to the amount listed in the SOP. This is an essential process to preserve the texture of the Xiao Long Bao, dumplings, wantons, buns, and spring rolls. The initial biggest barriers for me were being afraid of asking too many questions and committing mistakes in the front kitchen’s production. I have to thank my supervisors for comforting me in this process and they assured me that mistakes are learnt, for oneself to improve and to do better. In overcoming this situation, I tried to be more open and vocalize my queries in order to help me in my problem-solving. Throughout my time in the front-kitchen, I tried to take initiatives in helping to ease the food production process before I was even tasked by my supervisor. I also have to thank my colleagues in the front kitchen who were so welcoming towards me and their patience to answer my queries.

In a nutshell, I believe that I have made remarkable progress after I completed my internship in Din Tai Fung. I know how to do things in a faster way, how to deal with pressure, ways of communicating with customers and colleagues and the implementation of the foodservice standard operating procedures. I am excited to embark on my degree journey as I still feel that I need to equip myself with more knowledge and skills of foodservice hospitality. My advice to the juniors, are to know the importance of compromise in working with various personalities and to be strong-willed to deal with any forthcoming obstacles during the internship journey. Learn as much as you can while you are young, since life becomes too busy later.

I am very grateful to Sunway University for providing us with an internship opportunity to accumulate our experience in the hospitality workforce. Hotel management in Sunway University is a very interesting course, which covers the multi-faceted nature of hospitality operations and services management. Throughout the course and the internship process, the opportunities to learn professional skills, technical skills, and critical thinking skills are endless. The whole internship process is unforgettable, and it is exciting to do it again for my degree.