After two days of watching over the shoulders of incredible chefs from around the city of Hong Kong prepare creative and mouth watering dishes using Shucks' Whole Shucked Lobster, a winner was chosen! As our Maine judge, Stephanie Nadeau from The Lobster Company, said, she wishes that all the chefs could be chosen as winners, they were all that good! And this is coming from a woman who deals with lobster on a daily basis!
We started off Day One with two chefs, Chef Andrew Lee from the Novotel Hong Kong Century Hotel was the official starting chef of the Four Rounds of Chef of the Year championship. Following Chef Andrew, young Chef Daniel Tam, Executive Sous Chef at Aqua Restaurant Group, stepped up to the stage. Chef Daniel was excited he said, he has only been cooking for eight years and this was his first professional chef competition.
Our three judges were all still excited to be eating lobster for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Joining us were Adele Wong, the Lifestyle & Dining Editor from Hong Kong Magazine; Tracy Griffith, Corporate Executive Chef at New Gem Foods; and Stephanie Nadeau, President of The Lobster Company (from our own hometown of Kennebunkport, Maine!).
Day Two started on time and Chef Patrick Goubier took the stage. A well known French chef who has spent the past couple of decades living and cooking here in Hong Kong, he owns and is Executive Chef at the renowned Chez Patrick. (Check out our interview with Chef Patrick as he talks about how he enjoys living in Hong Kong - and working with Shucks' Whole Shucked Lobsters).
Up next was Chef Kelvin Pun, Executive Sous Chef at Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel & Towers. A skilled and dedicated chef, he moved swiftly across the stage as he whipped up his own pumpkin gnocchi to accompany his Whole Shucked Lobster dish.
The final chef to take the stage was Chef Mak Kam Kui, as Executive Chef of Western Cuisine at the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, he said that sometimes he dresses up in costume as Chef Mickey, or Chef Goofy, but today, he insisted that we just stick with the casual Chef Mak. His dish looked to be dancing off the plate - and after sneaking a bite on the side, I could understand how the judges were having such a difficult time choosing just one winner!
After the cooking ended and the judges submitted their final score card, the totals were added, and I held the secret of the winner. Chef Andrew was so excited to discover who was the Shucks Maine Lobster World Series - Asia, winner and who would be traveling "across the ocean", as he put it, to be joining the winners from the upcoming rounds in Portland for the World Series winner - he came back again the second day for the announcement of the winner.
The scores were close for all the chefs. So close, in fact, there was a tie for Third Place! Both Chef Mak and Chef Kelvin Pun tied; just ahead of them, Chef Andrew Lee came in Second Place. The winner of the Shucks Maine Lobster World Series - Asia... was Chef Patrick Goubier!
All the chefs were excited by the news, as they received their Shucks Maine Lobster hats and honorary Shucks Lobster Buoy (they couldn't quite believe that we had traveled all the way from Maine to deliver an authentic buoy... but neither had customs).
Check back soon as we continue to upload videos of the chefs preparing their amazing dishes and the announcement of the winners, here in Hong Kong!
