Taste Of St.Martin 2007
And the Winners are:
The cuisine of Herve Sageot of Ti' Provencal and Stephane Decluseau of L'Astrolab reigned supreme earning the chefs a joint Gold Medal and the title Chefs of the year in this year's Taste of St. Martin. stirring up gold in the bartenders mix off was Jean Rene Le Trocquer of Tai Chi in Orient Bay.
The chef and bartender competition was held in The Westin St. Maarten Dawn Beach Resort and Spa Monday. The gold medal winners may join the St. Maarten/Martin Culinary Team to compete next year in the Taste of the Caribbean Culinary Competition. In recent years, winners of the local competition went on to whip up the title of Team of the Year and a pot full of gold medals for the island in the regional competition.
Only three of the 14 chefs taking home medals were from Dutch side restaurant. The French side iron chefs dominated the cuisine competition. In the pastry chef category, only one of the four silver medalists, Rajbabu of The Westin represented the Dutch side. Also winning silver was Gregory Esposito of Fishpot. Private Chef Philippe Adon took home the bronze for his pastry creations.
Three-time Taste of St. Martin Gold Medalist Sageot and Decluseau had a double reason to celebrate their culinary achievement. Last week, the Dutch Restaurant Guide GaultMillau recognized Sageot as Chef of the Year. The editor in chief Jan van Lissum described his dishes as "inventive and tasteful dishes, largely based on regional ingredients." Decluseau was named GaultMillau's Talent Chef of the Year for his "carefully created compositions, rich in flavor, refined with subtle contracts." The chef also took back to his kitchen the medal for the Most Innovative Dish from Taste of St. Martin.
Cooking up silver in the cuisine chef competition were Nicolas Godebert of Le Boucaniers, Jean Ourdouillie of Le Cottage, David Cudicio of Le Chanteclaire , and Frank Maer of Le Pressoir. Scoring Bronze were Ricardo Niels of Holland House's Ocean Club Lounge, Ina Urfalino of L'Estaminet, Manuel Sotomayor of Fishpot, Franco Burato of Hibiscus, Michel Falardeau of Saratoga, Raymond Southern of The Westin, Private Chef Laurent Conte and Jerome Flores of Hotel Beach Plaza.
Blending and shaking up silver were bartenders Valerie Rivera of The Westin, Paul Peterson of Temptation, Toriano Horsford of Holland House's Ocean Club Lounge, Gregory Pigeon of Lycee des lies du Nord and Laurent Puget of Le Cottage. The bronze medalists were Harold Kellowan of Sunterra Flamingo Beach Resort and Loic Le Bourg of Beach Plaza Hotel. The special recognitions for Best Rum Drink went to Pigeon, Best Vodka Drink - Le Trocquer, Best Non Alcoholic - Laurent Puget. Rum Jumbie Mango Mystery Basket winning drink was made by Toriano Horsford.
» Temptation Chef to cook up a storm in California
» Preparing for Taste of the Caribbean
» French Side 'Iron Chefs' Sweep Taste Of St. Martin
» Best Restaurants of 2007
» Best Restaurants of 2006
