CHEF in EnO

Emmanuel Stroobant, aka Chef in Black, is one of the rising young celebrity chefs on Astro's AFC channel. And no wonder - he is good looking, charismatic and charming, and that Belgian accent is very sexy, although it did cross my mind how many people can fully understand him! On top of that, he has the ability to think out of the box, and as a result has been asked to endorse many products.

I had the pleasure of meeting him last year when he was in Penang to promote California Raisins at Traders Hotel, and this time round it was at the E&O, where in "A Gastronomic Experience with US Frozen Potatoes", together with assistant Eugene, he demonstrated to a packed room (which included the Chefs Association of Malaysia Penang Chapter members) six recipes using the products as part of a main course rather than as a side dish, which is usually the case. He even included it in desserts!

They were simple but good ideas: an example was the Croq Monsieur Brown, where he sliced a frozen hash brown into two thin halves, layered ham and a bechamel (white) sauce on top then grilled it. Simple, filling and tasty. I know, because we were all able to sample the food during the tea break which had been prepared by the E&O's hardworking team headed by the friendly and effervescent Chef Bok.

After that the E&O hosted a cocktail party for him. The poor guy must be quite fed up with people insisting on having their photo taken with him (yours truly included), but he takes it all in his stride, and never loses his charming smile. All part of his professionalism, of course.

Interestingly enough I met a fellow blogger there: nice to know that we all have one ... well two things in common: to promote Penang, and to try and make some money promoting Penang!