Culinary specialists reveal the magic hidden away in ice

As high-end restaurants and hotels push to make meals entertaining, ice artists are coming out of the workshop and into the dining room. Zhang Xuan and Mike Peters chat with a father-son duo of Filipino chefs

As hotel chefs and staff prepare for a dinner in China's capital, two men at the entrance are working up a sweat - despite being literally centimeters from a huge block of ice as big as they are.

Their chisels are flying, but the old saying "let the chips fall where they may" does not apply. The gawking onlookers can't see the design lightly sketched on the frozen surface, and they watch as an eagle suddenly emerges from the shapeless form. Winston Hernes and his son, Mark Wilson, have crafted the aquiline logo of Garuda, Indonesia's national airline and the sponsor of a food festival at Beijing's Kempinski Hotel.

"It is so amazing. I have never seen this kind of performance before," says Chen Lina, a dinner guest, who says she was surprised the artists could create such a vivid sculpture within a short time.

The ice artists are now part of the menu for the hotel's recently launched catering service. In addition, they always cut a big piece in "real time" during the hotel's Sunday buffet, at special events like the German hotel's beer festivals and at weddings.

Every week many customers come here especially to enjoy the ambience of making decorative sculptures in real time.

"Apart from their ice sculpture, this father and son themselves are quite a story," Chen says.

Winston and Mark come from the small town of Paete in Laguna province, "the carving capital of the Philippines". It's famous for moving statues of saints, all hand-carved from wood, have been featured on television. Many people in this community have traditionally been woodcarvers, like Winston's father and grandfather.

But in the 1980s, environmental concerns led to a ban on cutting trees.

Hernes started a new career, turning to culinary school and learning to making pastries and sweets.

A decade later, however, the hotel industry was booming in the Philippines, and there was a fresh need for people "with the right skills". Although Hernes had not formally learned ice sculpting, hotel executives from Asia to Saudi Arabia found that his woodcarving skills made him a natural.

In 1986, Winston was sent to Japan for training ice-sculpting, and eventually led a team that won a silver medal in a snow-sculpting contest in Sapporo.

"I was very proud of this victory, although ice craving was pretty new to me," Winston says. He still remembers this 3-meter-square winning piece: "a guy squatting and peeling coconuts". He has not had a chance to visit China's famous ice and snow festival in Harbin, with its building-sized carvings of ice, but he'd like to have a look sometime.

Winston has devoted himself to ice sculpture now for more than 15 years, and also doesn't have much trouble making fancy shapes out of "other stuff ": fruit, chocolate, watermelon and even butter.

"Ice is easier to carve than wood," he says, grinning. "The only challenge for me is time," he adds.

Cao Jitong, a baking specialist from Beijing Sun Helen Bakery School, spent eight years with Hernes making culinary art at the Kempinski hotel, and more than 30 years in the trade.

"We are not so much food makers as food artists," Cao says. "To reach the highest state of unity of myself and culinary art is a life venture," Cao adds.

In an era when computer programs have been developed to carve ice digitally, Hernes is eager to keep the hand-carving tradition alive - by passing his art to a new generation. Mark Wilson has practiced the craft with his father for 13 years.

"I was excited to come back to the Kempinski in Beijing last year after being away for eight years," he says, "with one condition: I wanted to bring my son with me.

"Plus, the ice is very heavy and I needed Mark's help," he says with another cheerful grin.

Contact the writer at zhangxuan@chinadaily.com.cn