Gold Winner of Chinese Chef of the Year

Tony Luk, Executive Chef of The Jade Seafood Restaurant, 8511 Alexandra Road, Richmond, B.C.

Winning Dishes: Sauteed Geoduck with Egg Whites and Italian Herbs; Drunken Free-Run Chicken with Yunnan Wild Morel Mushroom Sauce

In the eyes of mainstream media, Vancouver has become the place to find high-standard Chinese restaurants in North America. Richmond, and in particular the area known as the "Golden Village" really stand out, with so many top Chinese restaurants to choose from. For food lovers, it is a place to open their eyes to a wide variety of Chinese cuisines.

It is no wonder that this year, the gold award for Chef of the Year organized by the 2011 HSBC Chinese Restaurant Awards, went to a restaurant in the Golden Village of Richmond. Tony Luk, executive chef of The Jade Seafood Restaurant, won the top award for his very innovative Sauteed Geoduck with Egg Whites and Italian Herbs and Drunken Free-Run Chicken with Yunnan Wild Morel Mushroom Sauce.

According to one of the judges, Conrad Leung, Head of the Asian Culinary Arts Department at Vancouver Community College, the Sauteed Geoduck was  difficult to execute, yet Tony did it extremely well. Tony knows only too well that sauteing  geoduck requires perfect timing and temperature to make sure that the outcome is fresh and tender. Great skill is needed to fry egg whites as well. After the dish was finished and served, not a trace of oil or water was found left on the plate, which demonstrated how well Tony had mastered the heat.

Half of the Sauteed Geoduck dish consisted of the egg whites and shredded geoduck.  In order to bring out the freshness of the geoduck, the seasoning had to be light. The other half of the dish consisted of thin, fresh pieces of cucumber with dill and lightly fried geoduck on top. The combination of ingredients was innovative and also interesting to eat.

As for the Drunken Free-Run Chicken with Yunnan Wild Morel Mushroom Sauce dish, it too consisted of a combined two-part creation. The first part was free-run chicken fried with morel mushrooms and the second was seaweed glutinous rice rolls with basil, with a layer of drunken chicken and red date on top. The glutinous rice and drunken chicken mingled nicely together, and it all tasted amazingly delicious.

Tony remarked that he had previously spent a lot of time and thought before the competition figuring out which ingredients to use. During the competition, he demonstrated perfect time management, finishing the two dishes before the time was up.