grand hyatt amman wins gold at mla black box culinary competition
As a cool evening breeze blew on 23rd, November, 2007 the MLA Black Box Culinary Competition was held at Grand Hyatt Amman. At the end of the evening, the hotel was announced the winner of the gold medal and will represent Jordan at the competition’s finals in 2008.
The concept of the MLA Black Box Culinary Competition is to encourage young local professionals to compete in a team environment where they are given the opportunity to display their fine dining skills and cooking talent.
Teams are given a Black Box filled with mystery ingredients, including prime Australian beef, lamb, mutton, goat or seafood, along with spices, fruit and vegetables, as well as dairy products and stocks. The teams are given one hour to devise a four-course menu using all of these ingredients. The meal is then prepared the following evening and judged by a panel of international chefs at a gala dinner. Points are awarded for taste, skill, creativity and artistic merit.
Among the participating five-star hotels from all over Jordan, Grand Hyatt Amman received the highest number of points; its chefs were awarded the Gold Medal and, in May 2008, will travel to Dubai to compete in the Finals.
Commenting on this event;, the Executive Chef of Grand Hyatt Amman, Mr. Rabah Abusbaitan, said: “It is with great honour that my team and I accept this award; I can honestly say that this has been a long journey and all the chefs worked really hard in order to have the chance not only to represent Grand Hyatt Amman but also to represent all Jordan at the finals of this prestigious competition. This award goes first of all to, my team, which I am very proud of, as well as to our Executive Sous Chef, Thomas Cohrs, who managed the team and prepared the menu, and to our General Manager, Mr. Benno Geruschkat, for giving my team his complete trust”.
Mr. Geruschkat added: ”It is great to see such a spirit of bonding between all the hotels in Jordan; this is the first worldwide culinary competition to have taken place in Jordan, and I am proud to see the real hospitality of the Jordanian people demonstrated at this “friendly competition”, as I like to call it. Congratulations to all the teams, and I offer my special thanks to our Grand Hyatt team for working really hard and spending long hours to achieve this great success.”
