“The jury has decided that the prize for Best Tapa of the VI 2022 World Tapas Championships in Valladolid City goes to Lendl Pereira, from Hyatt Centric restaurant in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and twin with JIAPAN restaurant in Valladolid, for the tapanya Cijara Baba Ganoush“, said journalist Goyo González, host of the national and international tapas competition which takes place between November 7 and 9 in the city of Valladolid, in the province of Castilla-La Mancha.
Lendl Pereira, an Emirati of Indian origin, faced 15 heads of state such as Australia, Ecuador, Egypt, Spain, USA, India, Malta, Mexico, New Zealand, Portugal and UK, and won with a potato canutillo stuffed with eggplant, romesco sauce, cream of yogurt and pomegranate, on the back of a mini camel. “Cijarah Baba Ganoush”. A tapa where he pays homage to local Emirati produce, but to which he is also inspired by his native Indian cuisine and Spanish gastronomy; and which earned him a prize of 10,000 euros.
“On the one hand, I am inspired by the ingredients of my native culture. For example, certain spices are Indian. And also other elements of the Spanish kitchen, such as romesco sauce”, explains Lendl Pereira to Atalayar magazine. “It was an amazing experience. It was very interesting to see people cooking with passion”, said the chairman. “Because of that, and because there are so many inspired chefs who want to do something like this, my goal now is to hold a similar contest.”
Tapa “Cijarah Baba Ganoush” tantalizes the taste buds of 10 jury members chaired by Leonor Espinosa, ranked the best chef in the world by the World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022and includes chefs Mario Sandoval, Lucia Freitas and Jasbir Kaur, as well as the president of the Royal Academy of Gastronomy, Lourdes Plana, among others.
“It is invaluable that countries which hitherto had no tapas culture could make very precise interpretations of the meaning of tapas as an easy-to-eat snack, through which dialogue can take place”, stressed Leonor Espinosa to Atalayar. “The finalists were very well chosen, they managed to symbolize the meaning of what we were looking for”. Also, in what turned out to be a small nod to the winning tapa, Espinosa praised “given the strong Arab gastronomic contribution to Caribbean cuisine”which somehow reminded him of his native Colombia.
Second and third place 6th world tapas championship attributed respectively to New Zealand’s Yee Tak Frederick Wong, of the restaurant Poni in New Zealand, with the tapa “Ash Dog”, and to England’s James Russell Kirkwood, of the British brewery Browns, author of tapa “Sea and Mountains”. The prize for “the most traditional tapa” went to the representative of Portugal – the country invited to this edition – Joana Duarte, for “Mordisco Atlántico”; the prize for “most avant-garde asceticism” went to Amber Heaton from Australia, for “Salmon Ceviche”; and the prize for “Best Tapa Concept” went to Spaniard and previous winner of the Pinchos and National Tapas Competition, Alejandro San José, with “Salbut Criollo”.
The 6th World Tapas Championship starts on November 9th after the official opening ceremony, in which the president of the Provincial Association of Hotel and Restaurant Companies of Valladolid (Apehva), Jaime Fernández, Advisor for Culture and Tourism Valladolid, Ana Redondo, and president of the jury of the world competition, Leonor Espinosa, delivered a few words to the participants and assistants , as well as to event organizers. So chefs all over the world got to work and started preparing tapas.
“The magic of this international championship, of which there are only a few editions, is the mix. It’s great to see tapas from another cook’s eyes. From their prism. From his point of view. From the perspective of a professional who didn’t grow up with the social and cultural concepts of tapas“, considered Michelin star Lucía Freitas. A point at which participants such as Spaniard Alejandro San José agreed, and that manifested itself in the efforts of Karem Atef Ahmed of Egypt and Germain Rosas García of Malta – who in both cases represented their home countries in the competition for the first time – to promote traditional ingredients and flavors from their country, with a recreation of the dish in the form of tapas.
“This competition is very important to give visibility to the work of many people. In fact, this year, for the first time, a parallel initiative was conducted, namely a tapas competition in the kelurahan.which I think also puts an end to the elitist touch of this type of competition, bringing it closer to people and making it more accessible to everyone”, added the Spanish representative, Alejandro San José, regarding the national phase of the competition – the 18th National Pinchos and Tapas Competition – which held on previous days and crowned by Ariel Munguía, from Alava, with the tapa “Cochino Bocado”.
And, as the championship president, ngel Moretón, has pointed out, one of the highlights of this event is the democratization of haute cuisine for the common man, brings together national and international chefs and offers tapas in the bar and restaurant Valladolid. This year in particular, an edition that – according to collaborators – has experienced one of the highest levels in living memory.
