Culinary Challenge

Metropolitan Hotels and the Hong Kong Tourism Board invited four local celebrities to test their skills in the kitchen Friday during the Great Hong Kong Culinary Cook-Off, held in the Metropolitan Toronto's Mandarin Ballroom. ET Canada reporter Roz Weston, eTalk reporter Zain Meghji, and Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan of HGTV's Home Heist all competed in the event, which featured a six-course meal created by the hotel's executive chef, Patrick Lin, and famed chef Chow Chung, who flew in from Hong Kong for the event.

"Working with chef Chow Chung on this project was a great honor for us, and we are proud of the menu that he and chef Patrick Lin developed for our guests," said Henry Wu, president of Metropolitan Hotels. The hotel chain called on Solutions With Impact to manage and produce the event. Eric Aragon, the company's creative director, dressed the room in red and black and created an Iron Chef-feel for the Cook-Off with three food stations on a stage flanked by two large screens.

Approximately 200 guests dined on crispy foie gras and sweet mango spring rolls followed by double-boiled seafood treasures served in a papaya, wok-fried sea scallops with dragon fruit and bell peppers, pan-fried lobster with dragon tea leaves, chicken- and Yunnan ham-filled pears, fried rice with Canadian smoked salmon and roe, and taro-root dumpling with chocolate and a seasonal berry shooter. Halfway through the dinner, hosts Jennifer Lo of Fairchild Television and figure skater Kurt Browning invited the celebrity contestants onstage for the cooking challenge.

With the help of a sous chef, each of the three teams had 15 minutes to create a dish using lobster, the evening's secret ingredient—which sparked some not-so-fond childhood memories for one of the contestants. "As a little boy who comes from Scotland, my dad would go out and catch them," Ryan said. "They'd dance around on the front porch ... all I remember is my parents boiling to death my brand-new pet."

Chow, Lin, and So You Think You Can Dance judge Tré Armstrong graded the meals, awarding first place to Weston, who won $2,000 to donate to the Princess Margaret Hospice Lodge. Meghji, competing for Big Brothers, Big Sisters Toronto, and Colin and Justin, competing for the AIDS Committee of Toronto, also received $2,000 for their respective charities.