Super Chef comes to Khulna

The competition is certainly heating up and the kitchen is getting hotter. This week, Rupchanda-Star Lifestyle Super Chef held their audition rounds in the city of Khulna. Over a hundred people, braving the prevailing inclement weather, thronged the Tiger Garden Hotel in Khulna where the event took place. The judges' panel this week included TV personality and author Shawkat Osman; Abdullah Tareq, former head chef of Cilantro; MA Mannan, owner of Grill House & Restaurant; Ali Azam, head chef of the restaurant; Mahabuba Rahman, adviser, Siyam Cooking Centre and Eti Mahmud, director of Orange Cooking Centre. These heavyweights of the culinary world pored through exotic, fusion and regional dishes, looking for the perfect ones.

The proceedings began with the mandatory MCQ test round, followed by the "food test" segment. Shawkat Osman was again surprised by the professionalism evident in almost every dish. The famous "jui" spice was used in more than one dish, a staple in Khulna, bringing a kind of spice that chilli can hardly provide. Another stand out was a custard made using papaya. This novel creation also garnered a lot of attention. Abdullah Tareq too was satisfied with the food on display and it was evident that he had a hard time trying to make the decision. With an array of tasty entrants, Khulna had provided ample evidence that it could just be the home of Bangladesh's first ever Super Chef.

Finally, the tasks round began. By now, participants had already been marked on their food presentation, food taste, knowledge and Super Chef quality. Of all the people, 26 were selected to take part in the task round. The nervous participants presented themselves before the panel of judges one by one. With the prize money of Tk.5 lakh, along with the instant Tk.25,000 that each of the four selected participants for the final rounds would get, there was also the biggest prize of them all at stake; the Super Chef crown. The participants were asked questions testing their culinary knowledge along with questions pertaining to kitchen-hacks, to gauge a participant's innovative ability. Tasks were given such as cuts for fruit salad, general cuts and more. Finally, after much deliberation, the judges had their final four from Khulna. Jui, Khosruba, Nasrin and Sabera were those finally selected. And thus the curtains were drawn on the Khulna round of the Rupchanda-Star Lifestyle Super Chef 2014.

Tune in to NTV, every Monday at 9:00 pm to catch the next episode of the Rupchanda-Star Lifestyle Super Chef 2014, Bangladesh's first and biggest culinary competition.