Mahi-Mahi Dish a Stroke of Master Chef Genius for Outrigger on the Lagoon, Fiji’s Chef Priya Darshani

Release Number: 54/14

WAIKIKI, HONOLULU, HAWAII – Outrigger on the Lagoon, Fiji’s Sous Chef Priya Darshani has emerged triumphant as Master Chef at a Fijian Tourism Expo cooking contest held at the Sheraton Convention Centre.

Sponsored by Jack’s of Fiji Restaurants in association with the Fiji Chefs’ Association, the contest was open to a number of upcoming local chefs.

Each chef had one hour in which to produce two portions of the main course of their choice from the unique local ingredients contained in a mystery box they were given.

The dishes had to be suitable for service as a main course in any restaurant and had to illustrate contemporary Pacific cuisine.

Chefs were also required to do a canapé version illustrating the flavours of their dish and had the opportunity to serve and talk about their dishes with the guests at an FTE cocktail party afterwards.

Priya Darshani’s dish – Mahi-Mahi braised with fresh tomato chutney on smoked eggplant cassava crouton, coconut papaya salsa and chilli lime prawns in duruka lolo – was named winner by all three judges.

These were Brendon Coffey, general manager and executive chef of Jack’s Restaurant Group, Shailesh Naidu executive chef for Outrigger on the Lagoon, Fiji and president of the Fiji Chefs’ Association and Lance Seeto, executive chef at Castaway Island.

Priya trained in Fiji and in 2012 won the prestigious Moffat Fiji Chef of the Year title. In the same year, she was named Manager of the Year at Outrigger on the Lagoon, Fiji and in 2013 won a bronze medal in the semi-final of the Global Chef Challenge at Perth in Western Australia.

For additional information on Outrigger on the Lagoon, Fiji visit www.outriggerfiji.com

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