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For the four television celebrities taking part in the "Celebrity Challenge – The Great Hong Kong Culinary Cook Off" tonight (November 7, Toronto time) at Toronto's Metropolitan Hotel, Chinese cooking is full of intricacies. But, they all enjoyed the "Dragon’s Dream" menu, as well as the fun and the sense of humour generated by the visiting Hong Kong chef Chow Chung.
The "Cook Off", presented by the Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office (HKETO) in Canada, and co-organized by the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) and the Metropolitan Hotels, served as a prelude to the prestigious James Beard Foundation's annual culinary gala, which has adopted a Chinese theme –"Dumplings & Dynasties: The Evolution of Modern Chinese Cuisine" – this year. The foundation annual culinary awards are deemed as "the Oscars of the food world". Chef Chow, together with Metropolitan's Senior Executive Chef Patrick Lin, will be flying to New York later this month to design the menu for the signature event in North America.
About 200 VIP guests shared the fun and watched Global TV program host Roz Weston, CTV's E-talk host Zain Meghji, and Home and Garden TV hosts Justin Ryan and Colin McAllister battled it out at Celebrity Challenge, trying to show people that "Man Can Cook".
Chef Chow and chef Lin, who freshly returned from China after serving up "hairy crabmeat" to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty while the premier was visiting Beijing, jointly derived the six-course "Dragon's Dream” menu for the event, featuring a rare culinary masterpiece showing cutting edge recipes from Hong Kong.
In her opening remarks, the Director of the HKETO, Ms Maureen Siu, said the "Celebrity Challenge – The Great Hong Kong Culinary Cook Off" showcased the current trend and the creativity of Hong Kong's culinary culture.
"Hong Kong is famous for its wide variety of culinary delights and for the exotic fusion of Eastern and Western cuisine," she said. "Hong Kong is the culinary capital of Asia. The problem for a traveler in Hong Kong is not finding fine foods, but deciding what to eat."
Ms Siu thanked the famed Hong Kong Chef Chow Chung, and Toronto's Patrick Lin, who originally came from Hong Kong for providing the guests, including some top food and travel writers and editors in Toronto, an exquisite Hong Kong East-meets-West experience, and for promoting more culinary cultural exchanges between Hong Kong and Canada.
The duo also demonstrated Hong Kong's refined culinary art with a menu of Chinese fusion delicacies, offering an opportunity for the prestigious guests to learn more about the evolving culinary art of Hong Kong, as well as Hong Kong’s standard of excellence, which has helped make the city the "Gourmet’s Paradise."
As one of the co-organizers of the event, the HKTB will be launching its annual popular Mega Event "Hong Kong WinterFest" offering many attractive tours from now until next March to showcase Hong Kong as a most glamorous and glittering travel destination in winter.
Forthcoming food-related projects launched by the HKTB include "Dining with Stars" - a coop project initiated by HKTB and produced by Tatler where 50 most favourite fine-dining restaurants are selected and endorsed by international celebrities. A special booklet will be printed and distributed listing these restaurants picked by some 30 celebrities such as Susur Lee from Canada, David Tang of Shanghai Tang, Jimmy Choo of UK, etc.
Meanwhile, the "Michelin Guide to Hong Kong & Macau" - where Hong Kong is the next destination following Japan, to be added to the collection featuring a wide variety of cuisines at top-quality hotels and restaurants, will be released this December.
Ms Siu added that Hong Kong is much more than a food paradise and a shopping paradise. "It's also a hiker’s paradise…a bird lover's paradise…and the gateway to China, with strong links in all different parts of China."
"Hong Kong means business and great opportunities," she said. "So, Canada and Hong Kong enjoy a very close relationship. This is built on many different links – our trade, our people, and our sophisticated taste for good food."
Ends/Saturday, November 8, 2008
Issued at HKT 9:00
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