The dream of owning a café - Part 2 culinary feature series

Making a big career change is never easy but that did not deter Alina Hew from pursuing her dream. After more than a decade as a successful corporate executive, Alina enrolled in a classic cycle programme at Le Cordon Bleu Thailand about three years ago.

At that time, the course fee was THB540,000 which was approximately RM55,000 excluding accommodation and other fees.

She graduated with a diploma in patisserie under the guidance of Chef Fabrice Daniel.

After graduation, she first started working for a company that prepares various cakes, pastries and other fancy desserts for restaurants and hotels in Malaysia.

“Based on what I observed, there was a shortage of pastry chefs as there leading food and beverage outlets and hotels that don’t have their own baker!”

Earlier this year, Sunway University invited her to set up a café shop in its campus. Alina’s café is located beside the new Le Cordon Bleu Malaysia office.

"Our International Fridays at Café Madeleine has become a much anticipated event on campus,” she muses