IT was a night of tranquility at Lillian's Restaurant when students of the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management presented their Brazilian night for the school's International Cuisine series.

The dining guests were taken aback by the beautiful and artistic ice carving of a carnival mask done by executive chef Karl Thomas.

Tasked with researching Brazilian cuisine, developing a concept and presenting it, the team presented a carnival ambiance with Brazilian music and colours of the country's flag at the restaurant's entrance.

One challenge faced by the team stemmed from the fact that most persons associate Brazil with football and not so much their cuisine.

The preparation process for this week's team for Brazilian Night -- Alicia Green (executive chef), Jody-Ann Moulton (sous chef), Kimberly Scott (general manager), Jhanele Davis (assistant general manager) and Sharicka Clarke (sxpeditor) -- was challenging as Brazilian related items were not readily available.

However, the cuisine has some similarities to Jamaica's, primarily with stews, as their national dish Feijoada (pork and stew beans), is very similar to Jamaica's stew peas. The dishes tend to be done with many herbs for flavouring.

TEENchef spoke with lecturer Thomas to find out how well did the students grasp the concept of Brazilian Cuisine as it relates to the preparation and presentation techniques.

"It would take some amount of time and research for someone to recreate the true essence of a country's cuisine. I thought that the students did fairly well with their production and presentation of the Brazilian cuisine. Sometimes the energy levels were low because of the intense work that had to be put in, but they managed to pull together and make a great presentation at the end of the night," he told TEENchef.

TEENchef and the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management encourages the public to not only visit Lillian's Restaurant to support the students in their final project, but also to explore what other countries deem as delicacy. This week's cuisine: French.

Special thanks to GraceKennedy, the official sponsor of complementary beverages for the International Cuisine Series.