Belgium wins Embassy Chef 2010

Cultural Tourism DC and the Embassy of Sweden presented the Embassy Chef Challenge 2010 at the beautiful House of Sweden sitting in an ideal location on the water in Georgetown. This experience brought me back to the International Food Festival at Duke Law where the students go the opportunity to show off their cooking skills and feature dishes from their home countries. The Embassy Chef Challenge was a huge success!
Over 400 guests sampled dishes of competing chefs including Chef Aysha Murad, Embassy of the Kingdom of Bahrain presenting chickpea kababs served with bread.Chef Viktor Merényi, Embassy of the Republic of Hungary (Winner of the March 7 Safeway Challenge) presenting smoked catfish, served with chicken-celery salad, mesclun lettuces, cauliflower foam, and beet-root "caviar"
Chef Ana Maria Mas, Embassy of the Republic of Panama, presenting jumbo shrimp and avacado salad over vol-au-vents. (One of my favorites!)

Chef Francis Otoo, Embassy of Ghana, presenting shrimp kose.
Chef Jan Van Haute, Embassy of Belgium presenting Walk Through Belgian Cuisine, featuring pork, brussel sprouts, mustard, Belgian endive, and Leffe brown beer.

Chef Einat Admony, Embassy of Israel (People's Choice Winner), Chef Jae-ok Chang, Embassy of the Republic of Korea, Chef Chetnath Bhandari, Embassy of Nepal, and Chef Sunil Kiriwane, Embassy of the State of Qatar. His Excellency Vladimir Petrovic, from the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia also participated in the culinary showcase.
Celebrity judges including Alchemy Catering and Top Chef finalist Carla Hall, Chef Michel Richard of Citronelle and Central and Washington Post food editor Joe Yonan, Chef Martin Johansson of the Embassy of Sweden selected Hungary’s Chef Jan Van Haute as the Embassy Chef Challenge Winner based on the total points from both competitions; popular vote went to Israel’s Chef Einat Admony.
The Embassy Chef Challenge also offered a sneak peek of Cultural Tourism DC's Passport DC 2010. Congratulations to all of the chefs. You are all winners!!