marypoppins

Thank you Le peche for getting back to me about Ferrandi...I know the school is excellents...but I just want to compare it with École Internationale de Pâtisserie which specializes in patisserie only. I was just wondering if anyone has heard of it...it's a school by oliver bajard. I am in such a deliemma... thanks again

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hello All, I am a pastry chef...a very new one and have been very fortunate to get a job in London without any prior experience. However I want to expand my horizons and persue my passion by taking it to the next level. I want to get a formal qualification in pastry in either France, Germany or Austria. I hope to do this in next summer'09 and so trying to gather as much information and feed back..as I want to make the right choice...n for once in my life not act on impulse Anyways...I've been doing a lot of research and quite a bit has been revealed to me: 1. Disappointing though..but it seems Le cordon bleu has had some ratehr negative feedback. A lotta drop outs, Bad Admin, finishing school, 70 students in one class, bla bla bla...n the list goes on. So i think tht's pretty much out for me. 2. I've short listed a few other schools in France: * Oliver Bajard's École Internationale de Pâtisserie : It seems to be totally focused on pastry and apparently the classes are taught by well known chefs rather than teachers. Its a 20 week course for 16,000 euro and then you have the option for staying in france for 6 months to gain some proffessional training by working in the industry there. *ESCF Ferrandi : Its also the same duration and almost the same price. Its not so specialized as it also does french cruisine. But has a lot of name in France. *Lenotre: Suppose to be excellent but very pricey for just a few weeks and one needs to have a lotta prior knowledge and experience (ANY OTHER RECOMMENDATION,NAMES OF INSTITUTES WOULD BE WELCOME) Amongst these 3 I am leaning a little towards Oliver Bajard...has anyone been there or heard of it...I would really appreciate it. Is it easy to get a job after coming out of there? Also is it absolutely vital to study french for going to study in france....or just a little learning of kitchen french for a month or so would suffice? 3. A cafe owner in norway or was it sweden...told me about this institute in Germany: sweet art. Anyone heard of it? Or any other proffessional pastry institute there? So these are my options...that I've short listed...I would really appreciate any postive comments, feed back. My motive in the end is to open my cafe but before that i want to explore working in exciting places. I look foward to hearing from you. Thank you for your time.