After a brief hiatus, the Sister Islands Cook Off returned this month, much to the delight of food enthusiasts on Cayman Brac.
The event, which serves as the annual fundraiser for the Sister Islands Tourism Association, was held at the Alexander Hotel and Le Soleil d’Or Beach Club on 11 and 12 Nov. and raised over $3,500 for the association.
SITA president Peter Quilliam welcomed the return of the event.
“The fundraiser is the main event for the Association to raise funds that go towards promoting tourism in the Sister Islands specifically. This year’s event was aimed at raising money to create a promotional video showcasing everything that the Brac has to offer tourists,” Quilliam told the Compass in a statement.
This year’s event, he said, pitted the professional chefs from the island’s resorts and restaurants against each other, as well as amateur home chefs competing to see whose creation would come out on top.
The chefs could enter dishes in either the starter, main course or dessert categories. Prizes were given to both amateur and professional chefs, with best dish across all categories taking the grand prize.
“As always, this year’s event bought out the best in the competitors and the judges were so impressed with the quality of the food they couldn’t decide on which dish was the best and ended up awarding two dishes the top prize,” Quilliam said.
The judges were chefs Ron Hargrave from Tukka on Grand Cayman; Anu Christopher, from the Southern Cross Club in Little Cayman; and Rene Sanchez, from Le Soleil d’Or on the Brac.
The Sister Islands Cook Off Event is held annually and alternates between Little Cayman and Cayman Brac.
The top two prizes were awarded to chef Dhanuska Salinda from Le Soleil d’Or, who served a herb-crusted lamb with berries, and chef Nuangi Punchi, also from Le Soleil d’Or, who created his Mon Couer (my heart) Chocolate Mousse with crunchy hazelnut praline and bitter ganache sorrel jelly.
After the cook-off at the Alexander on 11 Nov., the event moved to the Le Soleil d’Or’s Beach Club the next day for a soft-opening lunch.
The chef team at Le Soleil d’Or treated the guests to finger foods showcasing their farm-to-plate concept, he said, adding that the Beach Club is now open to the public.
Filming for the promotional video will start in a couple of months.
Next year’s event will be held at the beginning of April at the Hungry Iguana Restaurant on Little Cayman.
“The format will look to change for next year’s event to encourage more locals to participate and will likely take the form of a Chili Cook Off. Details of the event are still being finalized and will be updated on the SITA website,” Quilliam said.
The video produced at last year’s fundraiser showcasing Little Cayman can be found on the SITA website.
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