Hotel Phoenicia’s former chef de cuisine Emile Jung returned to the hotel to dine with his wife and daughter after an absence of almost 50 years.

At the age of 25, Jung was the youngest chef within Trust House Forte employed 50 years ago.

What Jung enjoyed doing most in his job at the Phoenicia was preparing state banquets, including one in honour of Queen Elizabeth on November 14, 1967, for which then prime minister Paul Borg Olivier had sent Jung a personal congratulatory letter.

With a taste for adventure and travel, Jung has worked in numerous countries since his departure from Malta in 1969, including France, Sardinia and Australia, and opened a Michelin-starred restaurant in the UK.

“I introduced many new ideas in Malta at the time, such as team-building, training local staff and proper cost control, but the most important aspect was the introduction of French cuisine. Both the Prime Minister and Her Majesty enjoyed that very much,” said Jung.

In 1966, Trust House Forte chairman Charles Forte purchased the hotel and undertook a major programme of refurbishment.

Jung reminisced “one of the major changes was roofing over the internal courtyard, which is now the Palm Court Lounge”.

“The Phoenicia produced the best croissants in the world during that period and air-conditioning in the kitchen was easy in those days, we just removed all the windows,” he remembered jokingly.

Jung said Malta would remain forever in his heart since he met his wife here and had their first child while he was working at the Phoenicia.

Jung left Malta to recruit a team of professional chefs with whom to open an à la carte restaurant at Melbourne airport, based on a classical French menu.