After the victory of our Constance Belle Mare Plage team at the top culinary contest on Mauritius, the 4 winners are heading to Tasmania to represent Mauritius at the international MLA Black Box Culinary Challenge, from 20-27 May.
The team heading to Tasmania
Last October 2011, out of a total of 9 teams, Constance Belle Mare Plage won the best table set up and was overall winner of the Black Box Competition local event which marks the International Chefs’ Day and organised by the Mauritius Chefs’ Association.
Constance Belle Mare Plage will be represented by:
- Patrick Travady, winner of 5th edition of the Culinary Festival Bernard Loiseau, ex sous-chef and technician at the fine dining Blue Penny Café restaurant of Constance Belle Mare Plage. Patrick has participated in several culinary competitions and is very efficient and pro-active. Since 2010 he has been Assistant Chef at the Deer Hunter restaurant.
- Aundoo Kainat exudes Mauritian hospitality and has mastered Mauritian culinary techniques with great humility. She also enjoys new challenges in cooking. Honest and passionate about what she does, Aundoo’s participation in this MLA Global Final is a golden opportunity towards her career goals.
- Nitisha Ghunsam is responsible for desserts at the Blue Penny Café Fine dining restaurant. Devoted and loyal in her work, she also won the MLA Black Box Chef’s Challenge in 2009. Nitisha is very motivated to take part to such a competition.
- Jean Jerry Kevin Hook took part in the culinary competition ‘Super Chef’ and in Culinary Festival Bernard Loiseau. He is hard working, helpful and very determined. Good at interacting with guests and creative, this is a great challenge for Jean to be involved with.
The idea behind the competition
Constance Belle Mare Plage
Fifteen years after its inception, MLA’s Black Box Culinary Challenge has influenced more than 3500 young chefs around the Asia Pacific region helping lift their awareness and appreciation of Australian beef, sheep meat and goat meat.
Supported by the local chefs’ association in each country, the MLA Black Box Culinary Challenge has become the envied arena for showcasing quality products to a focused target market of current and future 5-star chefs and food service/trade buyers around the world.
Meat & Livestock Australia and other co-sponsors have successfully organised over 86 Black Box Competitions since 1996.
How does it work?
Each event targets 8 to 16 teams from five star hotels, restaurants, hotel/catering schools, clubs and airline catering. Teams are given a Black Box filled with mystery ingredients including prime Australian beef, sheep meat or goat meat as well as seafood, spices, fruit and vegetables, dairy products and stocks.
The teams are given one hour to devise a 4-course menu using all of the ingredients. The teams then take away their box of ingredients to a pre-arranged venue to prepare the meal. The 4 courses are judged by a panel of international chefs prior to being served to approximately 200 guests at a gala dinner event.
Points are awarded for taste, skill, creativity and artistic merit. Special awards are given for Best Main Course and Best Table Display. All teams receive a certificate of participation. Gold, Silver and Bronze level certificates are awarded based on the standards achieved by the team, and the top 3 winning teams receive Gold, Silver and Bronze medals and cash awards.
Competing Teams
- Mauritius- Constance Belle Mare Plage
- Vietnam – Equatorial Hotel Ho Chi Minh City
- Egypte – Inter Continental City Stars Cairo
- Philippines – Makati Shangri-La Manila
- UAE – The Address Downtown Dubai
- Singapore – Royal Plaza on Scotts
- USA – Mitsitam Native Foods Café Baltimore
- Indonesia – Bulgari Hotel Bali
- Malaysia – Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur
- Thailand – Thailand Culinary Academy Bangkok
- South Korea – Westin Chosun Hotel Seoul
- Cambodia – Topaz Restaurant Phnom Penh
- Hong Kong – Hong Kong Jockey Club Derby Restaurant
- China- Inter Continental Beijing Beichen
- Australia – The Henry Jones Art Hotel Hobart