Fish Dishes and Fried Noodles win Top Culinary Awards in Hong Kong

Top chefs of the 40 finalist restaurants in the 2003 Best of the Best Culinary Awards are cooking up a feast in a two-day competition at the Chinese Cuisine Training Institute (CCTI) today and tomorrow (19 and 20 November) to compete for the highest honours in Hong Kong's culinary scene.

Today's competition saw chefs from 10 establishments in each of the Fish and Fried Noodles categories demonstrating their skills. After final evaluation and tasting, the panel of judges selected the winners of the Best of the Best Gold with Distinction Awards, Best of the Best Gold Awards and Best of the Best Silver Awards. The 'Steamed Spot Garoupa with Hashima' dish created by Tsui Hang Village Restaurant (Central) took home the Best of the Best Gold with Distinction Award in the Fish category. For the Fried Noodles category, both the 'Fried Noodles with Shrimps, Cuttlefish and Chicken' created by Maxim's Golden Court Chinese Restaurant (Tin Chung) and the 'Lobster with Egg White on Noodles' created by The Royal Garden Chinese Restaurant were selected as winners of the Best of the Best Gold with Distinction Awards.

Officiating at the launch ceremony of the Fish category competition this morning, the Executive Director of the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB), Ms Clara Chong noted that for the third consecutive year, the open contest identified the finest examples of Hong Kong's classic delicacies and strengthened the city's position as a gourmet's paradise. Besides enriching visitors' experience, the event boosted the tourism and catering businesses by encouraging visitor and local spending. This year, the Awards have played an even greater role in adding momentum to the revival of these industries.

Ms Chong added that the HKTB had vigorously promoted the Awards worldwide, especially in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Australia given the strong visitor interest and popularity of Chinese dining in those markets and the results were extremely encouraging.

Since 2001, Best of the Best Culinary Awards thematic tours introduced by the travel trade had attracted over 14,500 visitors. With a global publicity value of over HK$27 million in 2002, the Awards generated extensive publicity of Hong Kong and the award-winning restaurants. Special menus featuring the top-ranked dishes created by these restaurants were extremely popular among visitors and local residents. Indeed, some award-winning restaurants enjoyed 15% growth or more in business since winning the Awards.

"As well as highlighting the dining attractions of Hong Kong, the Awards provide a solid marketing and business platform for the travel and catering industries. Just as in past years, the winning restaurants in this year's competition will act as Gourmet Ambassadors and join in the HKTB's worldwide promotions to fuel the development of these industries," Ms Chong said.

To boost publicity of the event, over 50 media representatives from 14 markets and 29 international media organisations have been invited to Hong Kong by the HKTB to cover the two-day competition.

This morning, Ms Chong and the Executive Director and Chief Operating Office of The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited (Towngas), Mr James Kwan, JP joined a celebrity member of the judging panel, artiste Mr Edmond Leung in performing the launch ceremony of the Fish category competition. The launch ceremony of the Fried Noodles category in the afternoon was performed by HKTB Member and Chairman of the Best of the Best Culinary Awards Advisory Committee Mr Robert Chow; Commercial and Industrial Marketing Manager of Towngas, Mr Joseph Lai and artiste Ms Yumiko Cheng.

Mr Kwan said Towngas had all along played an active role in promoting the local restaurant trade and the travel industry. He was very pleased to see that the public had participated actively in this year's Awards. "We have received a total of 1,431 votes for the "My Favourite Dish" poll. The results of the voting will constitute one-tenth of the score in the final round of the competition," Mr Kwan said.

Each category of the Best of the Best Culinary Awards has its own judging panel comprising a number of well-known local and international gourmets and public figures.

The HKTB plans to promote the Awards and the winning restaurants and dishes during its global trade and consumer promotions. To whet the appetite of potential visitors and help those in-town locate the restaurants and sample their signature dishes, the Board will publish the Best of the Best Culinary Guide featuring the top-ranked dishes in the 12 categories of the competitions since 2001, which will be distributed through the HKTB's Visitor Information and Services Centres and its worldwide channels as well as through the Towngas Customer Centres.

This year, the winning chefs will demonstrate the preparation of their signature dishes in front of visitors and local residents in December through a series of cooking classes. These classes can be packaged into special culinary tours to enrich visitors' experience during the festive winter season.

The 2003 Best of the Best Culinary Awards comprised four new categories, namely Fish, Fried Noodles, Vegetables and Duck/Goose. Applications were invited between August and September this year with close to 380 dishes entered. The initial two rounds of stringent evaluation and sampling were conducted by a group of "Culinary Ambassadors". Ten dishes were shortlisted in each of the four categories to take part in the final round of the competition.