JUMEIRAH BEACH HOTEL'S CHEF WINS ME JUNIOR CHEF OF THE YEAR 2001 AWARD

A chef from the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Kishor Shah, walked away with the top honours at the Middle East Junior Chef of the Year 2001 competition with an overall tally of three gold medals. The culinary contest was organized by the Emirates Culinary Guild under the auspices of the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) as part of the recently concluded Food Surprises week.

"Such competitions are intended to put on public display, the talents of chefs in the region while at the same time challenging them to create innovative recipes and styles of presentation," said DTCM Manager Heritage Sites and Events and Chairman of Food Surprises Committee, Awadh Al Seghayer.

"The objective of this competition was to improve the overall quality of culinary skills and provide recognition for excellence in culinary arts as well as incentives for the participants," remarked Mr. Seghayer who gave away the awards.

Kishor Shah won the top honours followed by Gayan De Silva of Hotel Intercontinental Dubai and Raghu Prasad of Emirates Towers Hotel.

The recognition for winners in the 18 different categories included gold, silver and bronze medals, certificates, engraved plaques and trophies as well as gifts from sponsors Philips. The categories included best chocolate carving, best ice carving, best fruit & vegetable carving, best wedding cake and best in-flight meal etc.

The competition this year attracted more than 283 entries that were more than double the figure of last year.

The judging of the competitions was performed by strict international standards so the judges were flown in from Germany and South Africa.

The static displays were open for public viewing as large crowds took in the aroma of the food and waited patiently for their turn to sample the food.