For the judges, selecting a winner of the Lobster Chef of the Year competition, the first round of which was held at the Asian Seafood Exposition in Hong Kong on Tuesday and Wednesday, was no easy task. But in the end, Patrick Goubier, executive chef of Chez Patrick in Hong Kong, edged out the four other chefs to claim the prize.
Goubier’s dish, featuring Raw Whole Shucked Maine Lobster from Shucks Maine Lobster, which sponsored the competition, wowed the judges. Among the ingredients in the dish were pink grapefruit, hazelnut cream and goat cheese.
He will travel to Portland, Maine, in August 2012 to compete in the final round. The second and third rounds will take place at the International Boston Seafood Show in March 2012 and the European Seafood Exposition in April 2012. The fourth finalist will be the winner of the Maine Lobster Council’s Lobster Chef annual competition.
Andrew Lee, executive chef at Hong Kong Century, part of Hong Kong-based Novotel Hotels, was the runner-up. Kelvin Pun, executive sous chef at Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel & Towers, and Mak Kam Kui, executive sous chef at Hong Kong Disneyland, tied for third. The fifth chef was Daniel Tam, executive sous chef at Aqua Restaurant Group.
“It was really close,” said Shucks’ Caitlin Hathaway, who organized the contest. “All of the chefs’ dishes were excellent. They were really enthusiastic.”
The chefs had 45 minutes to prepare their dishes. They were required to use Raw Whole Shucked Maine Lobster, which consists of raw claw, knuckle and tail meat extracted from a 1 1/4-pound Maine lobster using high pressure processing.
The judges were Adele Wong, dining and lifestyle editor at HK magazine in Hong Kong; Tracy Griffith, corporate executive chef of New Gem Foods in Stockton, Calif.; and Stephanie Nadeau, president of The Lobster Co. in Kennebunkport, Maine.
