Bakery Expert Relishes Egypt Experience

Toi Ohomai patisserie expert Noel Remacle has shared his skills with students at an Egyptian University as part of a new partnership. 

Noel has been a bakery tutor at Toi Ohomai since 2016 but has an extensive baking background, being a third-generation baker from Belgium. 

He gained an international audience when he posted baking videos online during the Covid-19 lockdown, sparking a new relationship with Pharos University in Alexandria, Egypt. 

Since then, Noel has hosted online tutorials for students at Pharos University and when the semester ended in November, Noel headed to Egypt to teach in person.
   
The whirlwind trip was jam-packed with teaching and sightseeing and Noel says he loved every minute. 

“It was awesome. One of the best experiences in my 40-year baking journey.”

A typical day included being woken at 4.30am with the call to prayer. 

“It was so loud and everywhere. It was a cool experience though, to wake up like that.”

Once at the University, he would meet the Dean and find out about the day and prepare his ingredients. 

“The students were supposed to be there for 9am but could not wait that long and would all be there at 8am and would help me with my ingredient prep.

“The class would go on until 2pm with no breaks. Then I would have lunch with the Dean at 3pm and I would go back to the hotel around 4pm.”

Noel says there was something planned for each evening, either talking at a seminar, meeting the owner of the University or visiting the hotel kitchens.

“The days were full on but so enjoyable.”

During his Egypt sojourn, Noel taught between 23 and 35 students throughout the day. 

“I taught them French patisserie, but because we ran out of some ingredients, I had to change my plans. We also did strawberry-filled doughnuts, coffee-cream-filled tarts on top of the planned Opera cakes, Paris-Brest and savoury lamb tarts.”

The experience wasn’t just about teaching, Noel got to experience some Egyptian delicacies as well. 

“One day I had Kanufa as dessert and it was absolutely amazing. It was a very simple dessert, but so good, when I asked for the recipe, I got invited by the pastry chef of the Gran Plaza, to make it with him in his kitchen in between service.”

He says it is hard to pinpoint a highlight from his trip as it was all incredible.

“The funny thing was life-size posters of me over the whole campus, everyone wanted a selfie with me, even tutors, Deans, and students from other departments. 

“It was amazing visiting all the places in Alexandria and Giza. People noticed that I had my own guide and a guard, and they all wanted pictures with me as well.”

During his meeting with the University owner, Noel presented some desserts and was told the quality matched that of the best restaurants. 

“It was very flattering.”

As a thank you gift, Noel received a plaque. 

“The students were lovely, they would bring me coffee, fresh orange juice and Egyptian goodies all the time. Also, all the messages the students posted on social media after I left were so nice.”

Pharos University has asked Noel to repeat the trip this year.