Recently, I had the opportunity to participate in an exciting cooking competition, “一COOK成名”. The competition brought together chefs, restaurant owners, and KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) from the cooking industry. There were 10 finalists in total – including me – and we were selected through a smaller cooking competition last year. The final competition was to be conducted in 2020, but had been postponed to this year due to the pandemic.

The long-waited competition began with a lucky draw that split competitors into two groups – half in Group A, and half in Group B. I was in Group A, the group that would cook first. The most challenging part was that everything was a mystery. We only got to know what ingredients we would be using at the start of the competition. Furthermore, the main ingredient that each competitor used was to be decided by a lucky draw right before we start cooking. Therefore, we could not prepare anything beforehand.

I was extremely anxious and excited when my main ingredient was finally revealed to be pork loin. I had an hour to cook, and my dish must echo with the theme of our competition: ‘The Hong Kong Spirit’.

It was an exciting, adrenaline-filled, and challenging hour. I had to focus on brainstorming the recipe, and then I would have to prepare, cook, and plate the dish all in one hour. I chose the dish ‘Crispy Stuffed Eggplant with Chilli Minced Pork, in Sweet n Sour Sauce. To prepare for the dish, I sliced each strand of eggplant along the middle and stuffed the Chilli Minced Pork into the opening slits. I chose to prepare this dish because it related well to ‘The Hong Kong Spirit’. In recent years, Hong Kong has gone through uncertainties, and our society has lost its unity. Our home broke apart from a big family into indifferent strangers. Each cut in the eggplant represents every divisiveness in our society, and the minced pork represents our efforts to heal and soothe the disharmony.

Words cannot express how grateful I am to have my dish to be the winner. There were many creative dishes in the competition, and every dish tackled ‘Hong Kong Spirit’ in different perspectives that were worth mentioning.
I would like to say a huge thank you to METIER ATELIER 美思工房, judges, participants-KOLs, and also local suppliers who supported the competition by sponsoring ingredients. I don’t pride myself on being the winner, or a great cook, and I hope to spread the happiness and positivity of cooking. It was truly a wonderful and unforgettable day, having so much fun and meeting so many great people!

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My YouTube Channel: QRCookeasy 大家姐戀煮廚房