Our 2020 Calorie Challenge saw us team up with Zee-Ai and five chefs in five different restaurants, who were tasked with creating healthy eating plant-based chef menus.
It all kicked off on November 4 at Green Friday, where a full house enjoyed Chef Yeyu personally introducing four courses: an artichoke and lentil soup, vegan nugget, Thai basil mushroom dish with plant-based meat and rice and an indulgent coconut cake.
The next stop was Jing Alley, where Chef Gin's dishes included Vietnamese plant-based meat spring rolls, plant-based meat with mushroom, deep fried plant-based chicken and a plant-based meat lasagna, all with a glass of wine.
The third restaurant in the Challenge was Hungry Lung's Kitchen, where Lung himself, who was born into a family of chefs in Montreal and is famed for his global comfort food, introduced a menu that included plant-based black pepper nuggets and veggie sticks with red pepper hummus dip, plant-based meatballs and a duo of mushrooms in Pernod cream sauce and a plant-based beef patty and fried egg sandwiched in an English muffin and served with grilled broccolini and roasted tomatoes (with the egg removed for vegans).
Our fourth host was newly crowned Chef of the Year at the That's Shanghai Food & Drink Awards 2020, Koen Vessies of Tomatito, which had also won Spanish Restaurant of the Year. They were not to disappoint. The experience kicked off with a glass of cava or a soft drink, followed by porcini mushroom, plant-based beef and spinach mini tacos, "two fingers one bite" plant-based meat explosion, granny smith apple and smoked chili jelly, thin sliced eggplant, black truffle, plant based Wagyu, sea salt and fresh tomato, "huevos rotos con chorizo" organic fried eggs, plant-based chorizo sausages and crispy potatoes, and special final surprise for diners – vegan dry paella with artichokes, rosemary and smoked paprika – that got the crowd oohing and aahing!
The fifth and final plant-based dinner of 2020 took place at Sip, where diners enjoyed two appetizers – chicken nuggets with Mexican spicy sauce and Mexican plant-based meat pineapple tacos – and a choice of mains – Italian plant-based meat pizza (a first for the Challenge!) with tomato sauce or plant-based Bolognese spaghetti with tomato sauce.
All the dinners used delicious Zee-Ai plant-based meat as the base for their creative menus. Diners were marking scores for each dinner, with three big fans taking part in all five of the dinners.
Here's how the scoring is weighted:
40% for the menu calorie count (worked out by our judges)
30% voting at the event
30% voting online
The online Reader's Choice Awards is divided into five categories:
Outstanding Creative Chef Award
Outstanding Food Quality Award
Outstanding Service Award
Outstanding Value for Money Award
Outstanding Restaurant Award
Vote now by scanning the QR code below:
And stay tuned to find out who the winners are; we'll be letting you know real soon!
About Zee-Ai
Zee-Ai is a brand of PFI Foods Co., Ltd. focusing on planted-based products and with R&D teams in the United States, Singapore and China. With the concepts of delicious and healthy at the forefront, Zee-Ai creates a series of innovative Chinese and Western-style plant-based products made of plant protein raw materials, with a soybean base characterized by high protein, zero cholesterol and low saturated fat. The products are delicious and convenient and indistinguishable from animal meat. In line with the fast-paced lifestyle of modern urbanites, they are simple to prepare and are a healthy new choice for families.
Scan the QR Code and follow Zee-Ai on WeChat to find out more:
Plant-Based Minced Meat
Plant-Based Burger Pattie
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