Hsiung and I met when I was living in Sydney, where he still lives.
This passionate about food and cooking regularly organizes Tapas and Wine nights. The concept is quite simple : five teams prepare five tapas dishes in their chosen food category of either poultry, red meat, seafood, vegetarian, and dessert. Each team will have only 45 mins in the kitchen to prepare and serve. Talk about pressure as you're cooking for at least 50 people! As if it wasn't enough, your dish will also receive a mark according to certain criterias !
Actually that is everything Hsiung likes : a bit of pressure, a challenge, the search of creativity and a friendly atmosphere!
As for me, I felt too impressed by the concept and the number of attendees to participate. That's why we decided instead to do our own contest. We determined some set ingredients and some forbidden ones, for a 3 courses meal. We both cooked a 3-courses-dinner that we served together to ten of our friends. Two different styles : improvisation and «joyeux bordel» against precision and method! Whereas I am literally unable to follow a recipe, I was impressed by Hsiung's precision and perfectionism.
