The best Chinese chefs in Asia cook up an imperial banquet
May 22, 2004 | 12:00am
A culinary competition on Chinese food? That was what we guessed when our lunch appointment indicated that we were to be guests at the inaugural Imperial Challenge at this year’s Food&HotelAsia2004 (FHA2004). With culinary teams coming in from Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and Singapore, the contest was intended to showcase the best of Chinese cooking through an eight-course banquet. Who in his right mind would resist going to such an event?
FHA2004 is the largest international event for the food and hospitality industries in Asia. Held in Singapore every two years, it is now in its 14th year. The trade exhibition is comprised of seven specialized shows, namely FoodAsia, Wine&SpiritsAsia, HotelAsia, HospitalityTechnology, HospitalityStyleAsia, BakeryAsia and FHA Culinary and Imperial Challenges, with each show catering specifically to the needs of individual sectors.
The Imperial Challenge is a special competition for professional chefs of Chinese banquet cuisine, which is set to be held once every four years at FHA.
"The Imperial Challenge is well-placed to take off given the established track record of the FHA Culinary Challenge. We hope the Imperial Challenge will set a new benchmark of excellence for Chinese cuisine even as it gains popularity in both Asia and the West," says Singapore Exhibition Services chief executive Stephen Tan.
Introduced at FHA2002 was the Dream Team Challenge, which challenged a three-man team made up of a bartender, waiter and chef to deliver a full food and beverage experience to three diners. This year’s Dream Team Challenge saw eight local teams from leading hotels and restaurants competing for the Dream Team Challenge trophy.
Singapore Exhibition Services marketing communications and conferences director Lindy Wee says plans are now underway for another culinary challenge on Western food, which will be introduced at FHA2006.
"Ideally, the Western and Chinese culinary challenges will be featured in alternate FHAs," Wee says.
The Taiwan Visitors Association beat three other teams from the Chinese Chef Association (KL) Malaysia, Society of Chinese Cuisine Chefs (Singapore) and The Regent to win the first Imperial Challenge trophy on the last day of FHA2004. These four teams were chosen from seven teams after three days of intense competition.
Winning entries from the Taiwan team include delicacies such as mango fish, fu yong prawns and duck mee sua. The team also created a special dish, coffee chicken fillet, using a mystery ingredient-sauce from the Imperial Challenge sponsor Kwong Cheong Thye. The mystery ingredient, which is a required ingredient in the final round, was revealed to the teams only the day before. A member of the Taiwanese team was also given the best chef award.
If our gourmet lunch at the Imperial Challenge was any indication of the quality and flavor of the food produced by the competing teams, then the Taiwanese team must have cooked up a winner. We had the opportunity to sample the cooking of the Singapore-based Society of Chinese Cuisine Chefs, and there were smiles all around the table.
The emphasis at this year’s Imperial Challenge was to reinvent the traditional Chinese banquet dinner. Wee tells us that many of the teams, while cooking popular Chinese dishes, were presenting them in quite unusual ways.
"Some of the teams were presenting their dishes as if they were fusion dishes, with plating and decoration receiving equal attention as the food preparation," she says.
She surely hit the mark. The banquet appetizer, Wealthy Four Combination Platter, was a lesson in presentation. A filled radish slice was rolled like a diploma and a slice of shrimp was laid out like a butterfly, while a vegetable sushi and squid slice were arranged like a bloom.
That was just the start of a delicious and pretty afternoon.
The soup dish, three treasures boiled soup, combined with fish maw and abalone in a little parcel that was steeped in a rich soup. What gave the soup a little extra was the presentation: The mini soup bowl sat on a mini burner. A lighted tea light kept the soup warm while you slurped it.
What followed was a succession of delights: Steam fried garoupa rolls; roasted quail stuffed with pan fried pigeon; fried lobster balls; jade bamboo shoots stuffed with Chinese delight; and handmade scallop noodles served with crab claw. Dessert was hashima served with chrysanthemum puff, a refreshing fruity drink that was complemented by mini versions of traditional Singaporean desserts.
Aside from the Imperial Challenge, FHA2004 also saw a number of competitions, which pitted the best chefs in Singapore and around Asia. The two contests gathered 500 chefs from 15 countries for being recognized as the best.
The team from Swissotel the Stamford Raffles the Plaza won the Gourmet Team award. Gold medals were also awarded to teams from UBF Germany and Ritz Carlton Millenia Singapore for unique creations of tapas, bread, meat platters, appetizers, cakes and desserts. The dream team from SHATEC clinched the Dream Team Challenge trophy, while the Laguna Golf and Country Club team won second and the Conrad and Meritus Mandarin teams won third.
The FCC Individual Competition, with 17 categories, challenged experienced and budding chefs to test and improve their skills in fruit and vegetable carving, petit fours, ice carving, plated appetizers to ethnic Asian cuisine and pastry showcase. The rarely accorded gold with excellence medal was awarded to Don Nalin Krishantha Jagoda from the Hilton Abu Dhabi, UAE for his pastry carving "Heaven on Earth."
Edward Leonard, World Association of Cooks Society vice president and Culinary Institute of America president, states, "The FCC is full of passion and a quest to set the standards for cuisine in the future."
FHA2004 is the largest international event for the food and hospitality industries in Asia. Held in Singapore every two years, it is now in its 14th year. The trade exhibition is comprised of seven specialized shows, namely FoodAsia, Wine&SpiritsAsia, HotelAsia, HospitalityTechnology, HospitalityStyleAsia, BakeryAsia and FHA Culinary and Imperial Challenges, with each show catering specifically to the needs of individual sectors.
The Imperial Challenge is a special competition for professional chefs of Chinese banquet cuisine, which is set to be held once every four years at FHA.
"The Imperial Challenge is well-placed to take off given the established track record of the FHA Culinary Challenge. We hope the Imperial Challenge will set a new benchmark of excellence for Chinese cuisine even as it gains popularity in both Asia and the West," says Singapore Exhibition Services chief executive Stephen Tan.
Introduced at FHA2002 was the Dream Team Challenge, which challenged a three-man team made up of a bartender, waiter and chef to deliver a full food and beverage experience to three diners. This year’s Dream Team Challenge saw eight local teams from leading hotels and restaurants competing for the Dream Team Challenge trophy.
Singapore Exhibition Services marketing communications and conferences director Lindy Wee says plans are now underway for another culinary challenge on Western food, which will be introduced at FHA2006.
"Ideally, the Western and Chinese culinary challenges will be featured in alternate FHAs," Wee says.
The Taiwan Visitors Association beat three other teams from the Chinese Chef Association (KL) Malaysia, Society of Chinese Cuisine Chefs (Singapore) and The Regent to win the first Imperial Challenge trophy on the last day of FHA2004. These four teams were chosen from seven teams after three days of intense competition.
Winning entries from the Taiwan team include delicacies such as mango fish, fu yong prawns and duck mee sua. The team also created a special dish, coffee chicken fillet, using a mystery ingredient-sauce from the Imperial Challenge sponsor Kwong Cheong Thye. The mystery ingredient, which is a required ingredient in the final round, was revealed to the teams only the day before. A member of the Taiwanese team was also given the best chef award.
If our gourmet lunch at the Imperial Challenge was any indication of the quality and flavor of the food produced by the competing teams, then the Taiwanese team must have cooked up a winner. We had the opportunity to sample the cooking of the Singapore-based Society of Chinese Cuisine Chefs, and there were smiles all around the table.
The emphasis at this year’s Imperial Challenge was to reinvent the traditional Chinese banquet dinner. Wee tells us that many of the teams, while cooking popular Chinese dishes, were presenting them in quite unusual ways.
"Some of the teams were presenting their dishes as if they were fusion dishes, with plating and decoration receiving equal attention as the food preparation," she says.
She surely hit the mark. The banquet appetizer, Wealthy Four Combination Platter, was a lesson in presentation. A filled radish slice was rolled like a diploma and a slice of shrimp was laid out like a butterfly, while a vegetable sushi and squid slice were arranged like a bloom.
That was just the start of a delicious and pretty afternoon.
The soup dish, three treasures boiled soup, combined with fish maw and abalone in a little parcel that was steeped in a rich soup. What gave the soup a little extra was the presentation: The mini soup bowl sat on a mini burner. A lighted tea light kept the soup warm while you slurped it.
What followed was a succession of delights: Steam fried garoupa rolls; roasted quail stuffed with pan fried pigeon; fried lobster balls; jade bamboo shoots stuffed with Chinese delight; and handmade scallop noodles served with crab claw. Dessert was hashima served with chrysanthemum puff, a refreshing fruity drink that was complemented by mini versions of traditional Singaporean desserts.
Aside from the Imperial Challenge, FHA2004 also saw a number of competitions, which pitted the best chefs in Singapore and around Asia. The two contests gathered 500 chefs from 15 countries for being recognized as the best.
The team from Swissotel the Stamford Raffles the Plaza won the Gourmet Team award. Gold medals were also awarded to teams from UBF Germany and Ritz Carlton Millenia Singapore for unique creations of tapas, bread, meat platters, appetizers, cakes and desserts. The dream team from SHATEC clinched the Dream Team Challenge trophy, while the Laguna Golf and Country Club team won second and the Conrad and Meritus Mandarin teams won third.
The FCC Individual Competition, with 17 categories, challenged experienced and budding chefs to test and improve their skills in fruit and vegetable carving, petit fours, ice carving, plated appetizers to ethnic Asian cuisine and pastry showcase. The rarely accorded gold with excellence medal was awarded to Don Nalin Krishantha Jagoda from the Hilton Abu Dhabi, UAE for his pastry carving "Heaven on Earth."
Edward Leonard, World Association of Cooks Society vice president and Culinary Institute of America president, states, "The FCC is full of passion and a quest to set the standards for cuisine in the future."
BrandSpace Articles
<
>
