How a LaSalle Student Took His Classroom Recipe to The Keg's National Finals
Norwin Baraquio is a Culinary Arts student at LaSalle College Vancouver. He is also a provincial champion and national finalist at one of North America's most prestigious culinary competitions. This is how he got there.
A current Culinary Arts student at LaSalle College Vancouver, Norwin Baraquio recently competed in The Keg's Grill Masters Cooking Challenge, one of the most prestigious internal culinary competitions in North America, open to kitchen staff across more than 100 Keg locations. He didn't just participate. He won his store, won provincials in BC, and made it all the way to the national finals in Toronto.
The Dish That Started It All
It began with a midterm.
During his time at LaSalle College Vancouver, Norman cooked Jamaican jerk chicken for a class assignment. He liked it , but he knew it could be more. "I wanted to make it spicier, where it's good to eat, it's spicy enough where it makes me want to take another bite," he recalls.
He spent about a week refining the recipe, testing components, and figuring out what worked. Then he tried it at school. It worked. So he took it to The Keg.
His dish: Jamaican jerk chicken with cilantro lime rice. His goal: to win.
Winning the Store. Then the Province.
Norwin entered the competition at his local Keg location and took first place earning $150 in prize money. "Very nice," he laughs. "It helps me out with all the tool kits I need to buy."
That win sent him to the provincial competition, where he would face the top 15 kitchen staff from Keg locations across all of BC. Only two could advance.
The night before provincials, Norman butchered his own chicken, a big one, the only way to get exactly the cut he wanted. "It takes practice," he says. "Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, but I got better out of it."
On competition day, he was focused. Completely. "I didn't smile at anybody. I was just really focused."
He won first place.
The Role of LaSalle
Norman is quick to credit his training at LaSalle College Vancouver for giving him the foundation to compete at this level.
"Since I was attending LaSalle College, I had a lot of base knowledge on what I wanted to cook," he says. "I practiced three to four times a week during the school year — a lot of chicken — all under the guidance of Chef Matthew."
Chef Matthew Corbett, a faculty instructor at LaSalle College Vancouver, worked with Norman throughout the competition, helping him refine every component of the dish and, crucially, his presentation. "He told me: you've got to catch their feelings, catch their attention," Norwin recalls.
That advice stuck.
The National Finals
At the finals in Toronto, Norwin faced the top culinary talent from Keg locations across North America. While other competitors simply presented their dish and stepped back, Norwin did something different, he guided the judges through the entire eating experience.
Rather than letting the dish speak for itself, he walked the panel through every component, explaining what flavours to expect and how to experience the dish from the first bite. The judges responded. They laughed, leaned in, and paid attention in a way that set him apart from the field.
He finished third, but left Toronto knowing exactly what he was capable of.
What Norwin's Story Tells Us
Norwin's journey from a classroom recipe to a national culinary final is exactly the kind of story that defines the LaSalle College Vancouver experience — hands-on learning, expert mentorship, and real-world application.
As Norwin puts it: "I trained my best every single day to see what I can do, what I'm capable of."
And it showed.
Norwin is currently a Culinary Arts student at LaSalle College Vancouver. His story starts in our kitchen, yours could too.