Basseterre, St. Kitts - The heat will be on in October of this year when many of the nation's leading kitchen and Bartender maestros take part in the St. Kitts and Nevis Hotel and Tourism Association's Chef of the Year and Bartenders of the year competition. Also at stake will be places on the team representing the country at next year's Caribbean Hotel Association's Taste of the Caribbean competition.
The HTA contest will be held on October 14 2010 in the Kitchens of La Cucina Restaurant at the St Kitts Marriott Resort. The CHTA showdown will be held in June 2011.The chefs will have two hours to create their culinary masterpieces at the HTA event. And, until it starts at 11 a.m., they won't know what ingredients they'll be working with. Each chef will be given a "mystery basket" consisting mainly of local produce, and each of the baskets will be different. The chefs will have an hour to assess the ingredients,
decide what to do with them and write down their menu and method of preparation.
They'll have another hour to do the actual cooking, and will be asked to present a meal for four.Says Michael Head, manager of the HTA: "The goals of this competition are to raise the standards of Caribbean food excellence and professionalism, to promote camaraderie and education opportunities among chefs and to act as a staging area for development of service and presentation."
The event will be open to the public, who will be invited to sample the chefs' creations in La Cucina Restaurant, after the judges have delivered their verdict.
Head also says that while the competition is open to all chefs and Bartenders working in St. Kitts and Nevis, the six-man team at next year's CHTA Taste of the Caribbean finals will include at least three nationals. Adds Head: "We're really encouraging local chefs and Bartenders to take part in the competition. We firmly believe we've produced some of the finest chefs and Bartenders in the entire Caribbean, and we want to prove it on the big stage next year."
As well as the Chef of the Year competition the Bartender competition will run at the same time in the same venue, with bartenders from around the federation stirring up cocktails from mystery baskets to vie for a place on the team that will go forward with the chefs to the Taste of the Caribbean contest next year.
