A perfect duck – it’s a knockout

The winner of the ninth edition of the Festival culinarie Bernard Loiseau at resort Belle Mare Plage on the island of Mauritius is Dammika Sarath, chef at the Constance Halaveli Maldives. Having prepared himself together with Japanese Masashi Ijichi, chef at La Cachette in Valence (France), lacachette.restaurant@gmail.com, Dammika first offered a Coconut and white bean soup (a vegetarian starter, with no meat nor fish for everyone) and then a Duck breast marinated with spices and orange juice (main dish with a set theme) perfect with regards to cooking and aromas.

While on Thursday everyone overall succeeded in the first step, with three starters that were slightly above the others but with no big mistakes, when it was necessary to move beyond, and face a more difficult theme, the road became very steep and problems began. The meat was meant to be cooked with a precise indication given by the organisers: it had to be the right pink. And the six chefs had received six whole ducks, from which they had to obtain the breasts. A good work, not just 8 perfect cuts, prepared by the importer and ready to be cooked.

Eight portions: six for the jurors, one for the photo and the last for the starred chef who had shared, together with the island chef (from the Maldives, Mauritius or Seychelles) a long eve. With an important note: after being friends and accomplices from Sunday to the dawn of Thursdays, when the contest began, all of the six guests had to leave the kitchen because the whole responsibility was that of the chefs who daily work in one of the establishments of the Constance group. The Festival Loiseau is organised mostly for them, in order to raise the average level of the kitchen teams.

Behind the winner, most of all thanks to a perfect duck, Sandy Sokalingum, of Constance Lémuria, and Yogessen Ramen, of Constance Ephelia, both in the Seychelles. Sandy, who came second, worked with Swedish Jacob Holmstrom, of Gastrologik in Stockholm. His starter was the first to be ready (it was marked with an anonymous A) and was an ode to the freshness of the products bought from the market in the capital Port Louis. However, he made a mistake with the duck breast, which was only braised on the skin side, still raw and bloody, difficult to cut, let’s not speak of enjoying it.

The draws had paired Yogessen to English Tim Allen, of the Launceston Place in London. His starter went in the opposite direction to the others. While they were all intent in highlighting the peculiarities of the different island and nations in the Southern Indian Ocean, Ramen proposed a sort of Provencal style stuffed tomato, which, with regards to its red colour, recalled an apple. The duck breast probably had a better side dish but was missing in energy, a touch of taste that would make it totally enjoyable.

[[Ima4]]I personally ate the entire delicious starter prepared by Dinushan Patabadage, chef from Sri Lanka working at Moofushi in the Maldives – paired, in this case, with German Jens Rittmeyer of the Budersand Hotel in Hornum, Germany. His cold Chilli pepper and pineapple soup not only perfectly represented the love for hot food typical of the people from this part of the globe, but the pineapple juice gave it extraordinary fresh notes without ever overshadowing the heat of the chilli. Some penalised it for this same reason, but no other dish interpreted the local culture in a new key. Too bad for Dinushan’s duck: it was pleasant thanks to the macadamia nuts but too cooked and thus dry.

4. To be continued (see the previous episodes here, here and here)