Followers of Celebrities in Marbella will know how much Hannah and I love our food. To us food is an experience and we will literally book trips and holidays around cuisine and restaurants that we want to visit. Luckily, we both seem to enjoy different types of food from all over the world and back at home, I love to cook and create flavours myself.
Marbella has become a gastronomic heaven with top restaurants like Nobu opening up. Further up the coast chefs like Stephen Saunders have also opened up Michelin Star style restaurants to showcase their extreme talents.
Another one of my loves is getting comfortable on a Saturday and Sunday morning and watching cookery shows. One of my must views at the moment is John and Lisa’s Weekend Kitchen. Recently they had one of my other favourite cooks on, Ching He Huang who was born in Taiwan and brought up in the UK. Her style of cooking and general way of presenting makes watching very easy. One of her best shows was with Ken Hom when they worked their way around Asia.
So, when we found out that Ching He Huang was heading to Gibraltar for the literary festival you can imagine how excited we were.
With the help of Hannah, who had been running competitions all week on Talk Radio Europe for the festival, she managed to source some tickets to a special lunch at the O’Callaghan Elliot Hotel where Ching would be cooking a three course lunch and also giving an interview about her journey from Taiwan to our TV screens.
We set off to Gibraltar early(ish) on Saturday and got to the hotel for around 1pm. Gibraltar is a British enclave just off the southern tip of Spain. It is an offshore territory which has become very popular with investors of property but as the rules and taxes are different, especially after BREXIT.
Back to the main reason we were in Gibraltar! The meal was on the 8th floor so we headed on up. It was in the dining area just inside from the rooftop pool with lovely views across the rock of Gibraltar and to Spain. It was full but actually quite intimate with probably around 50 diners in total.
Having been seated Ching He Huang was introduced to the diners and she was interviewed about her life and love of food. We found out lots about her early years with her family in Taiwan and the influence her grandmother had on her cooking. She also spoke about her transition from having a sandwich round to her lucky break into the world of being a TV chef. She spoke very fondly of Ken Hom and how he was a huge influence on her cuisine as well.
Ching also introduced her new book and explained a little about cooking in a wok and the actual process in order to achieve the right results. Basically, heat is the main criteria. The wok and oil need to be very hot before adding any ingredients. Also, ingredients should balance in terms ying and yang, which was a lovely way to describe it.
After the interview the audience were asked for any questions and Hannah asked Ching if she had a safe, go to meal that she cooks a lot at home. Ching immediately responded with yes and described a lovely broth type of dish which was tomato based but you could add any vegetables or good quality meat or fish.
I also asked a question. I asked if she had a favourite spice or ingredient which is a must have in pretty much all dishes. Again, she quickly answered and explained that she LOVES ginger. She adds it to all cooking and even chews it raw. She went on to explain many of the health benefits of ginger as well.
After the interview the food was served. To start Hannah had trumpet mushrooms is a rich Chinese sauce with chillies. I had squid in the same sauce. The flavours were amazing, and the depth of taste is difficult to explain but you sort of got a different flavour experience the more you ate.
The next course was braised pork belly is a star anise flavoured sauce. Again, the depth of flavour was incredible. It was sweet, yet sour, it was spicy yet cooling. It seemed to cover all taste sensations and the pork was so tender it fell apart as soon as you touched it with your fork.
Being cooked for by one of my favourite celebrity chefs, Ching He Huang was an experience I will never forget!