Star Cruisess has announced that the chefs of SuperStar Libra achieved new success at this year’s Battle of the Chefs 2014, clinching a total of 27 medals that include 1 Gold, 5 Silver and 21 Bronze, together with 14 diploma awards, as well as the Most Outstanding US Potatoes Master Chef Challenge Award.
The sizzling culinary battle, featuring over 1,500 local and international chefs from 20 countries like Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan and China, just to name a few, was recently held from 22 – 25 October 2014 at The Subterranean Penang International Conference & Exhibition Center (sPICE), Penang, Malaysia.
Led by Executive Chef, Mr. Saifol Iskandar Ikhsan, a total of 17 chefs, 1 bartender and 4 housekeeping attendants from SuperStar Libra participated in 21 of the 70 categories such as the Practical- Main Course I (Poultry, Duck, Chicken & Game, either alone or as a combination), Practical- Main Course II (Beef), Practical- Main Course III (Fish/ Seafood, either alone or as a combination), Practical- Main Course IV (Lamb), Display- Fruit & Vegetable Carving (Theme: Fairy Tales), and many more.
Mr. Pradeep Mohan, the 30-year-old Chef De Partie of SuperStar Libra, made a successful competitive debut at this year’s competition by winning a gold medal in the Practical- US Potatoes Challenge Category and clinched the Most Outstanding US Potatoes Master Chef Challenge Award. He impressed the judges with his innovative skills in creating the perfect potato dish, simply entitled ‘Trio of Potatoes’, consisting of spice mashed potato tikki, masala potato chat and stuffed potato with dried fruits serve with mint and tamarind chutney. He also snatched a silver medal under the Practical- Penang Char Kuey Teow Category.
The other four silver medals winners are Chef De Partie Mr. Muhammad Quzair (Practical- Hot Cooking Western Main Course/ Lamb & Practical- Hot Cooking Western Main Course/ Seafood), Sous Chef Mr. Zulkily Akhir (Practical- Hot Cooking Western Main Course/ Beef) and 2nd Cook Mr. Shafiq Juraimi (Practical- Hot Cooking Western Main Course/ Chicken).
Mr Ang Moo Lim, Executive Vice President, Sales, Marketing and Hotels of Genting Hong Kong Limited said, “Once again the chefs of SuperStar Libra excelled and pushed the envelope to deliver an outstanding performance at this year’s Battle of the Chefs 2014, making us proud of their hard work and dedication in the arts of culinary. At Star Cruises, we are one another’s greatest supporters and we celebrate our individual and team success together. We will continue to provide opportunities for both new and existing talents to showcase their culinary skills onboard our various restaurants across the Star Cruises fleet, offering a wide spectrum of international and authentic Asian cuisines.”
In celebration of this year’s success at the Battle of the Chefs 2014, Star Cruises is pleased to announce that passengers following the 2D1N High Sea cruise and 4D3N Phuket-Krabi cruise onboard SuperStar Libra will now have the opportunity to indulge in a variety of exquisite cuisines crafted by our award-winning chefs.
The culinary highlights include Mr Pradeep Mohan’s gold and silver medal dishes – ‘Trio of Potatoes’ and Kuey Teow Goreng ‘Daun Simpok’ (Fried kuey teow noodle) that will be available as ala-carte orders at the Blue Lagoon, the 24 hour- refreshments and at the snacks outlet located at Deck 10. In addition, SuperStar Libra will also showcase and offer many of its other silver medal dishes at the Four Seasons Restaurant (Deck 4) and Spices Restaurant (Deck 10).
The silver medal dishes include ‘Medallion of Angus Beef’ (Medallion of beef larded with beef bacon strips, served with pan seared goose liver, buttered vegetables and morel sauce) created by Sous Chef Zulkifly Akhir; ‘Duo of Lamb’ (Stuffed prune lamb loin with coriander seed, crusted with pine nut served with green pea tortellini, vegetable anglaise, mint yogurt Chantilly and shallot reduction) created by Chef De Partie Mohd Quzair, and ‘Asian Tropica Chicken Roulade’ (Oven baked stuffed marinated chicken with spice minced chicken served with tropical sauce) created by 2nd Cook Shafiq Juraimi.
Homeported in Penang, SuperStar Libra is set to offer passengers an exciting culinary adventure with a variety of exciting and authentic flavours from across Asia and around the globe. Star Cruises invites travellers of all ages to embark on the ultimate journey, cruising to various exotic Asian destinations with SuperStar Libra, while enjoying the finest cuisines from our very own award-winning chefs. It’s a gastronomical journey not to be missed.
Organized by the Chefs Association of Malaysia (Penang Chapter), the Battle of the Chefs 2014, is held once every two years to unearth new talents and provide a platform for both local and international chefs to create and challenge others in showing heritage cuisine. The event was endorsed by World Association of Chefs Societies as a Continental Level Competition and is supported by the Ministry of Tourism, Malaysia and the Penang State Government.
