Our 2020 Calorie Challenge saw us team up with Zee-Ai and five chefs in five different restaurants – Green Friday, Jing Alley, Hungry Lung's Kitchen, Tomatito & Sip – who were tasked with creating healthy eating plant-based chef menus.
All the dinners used delicious Zee-Ai plant-based meat as the base for their creative menus. Diners were marking scores for each dinner. Here's how the scoring was 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; and Outstanding Restaurant Award.
Without further ado, it is now time to announce the winners...
Outstanding Creative Chef Award
Hungry Lung's Kitchen
Lung, who was born into a family of chefs in Montreal and is famed for his global comfort food, introduced his menu personally. It included plant-based black pepper nuggets and veggie sticks with red pepper hummus dip and a plant-based meatballs and a duo of mushrooms in Pernod cream sauce. Finally, guests were treated to 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).
Outstanding Food Quality Award
Jing Alley
No expense was spared by Chef Gin and his team, who took an Asian twist with some delicious Vietnamese plant-based meat spring rolls. It was top class across the menu, with plant-based meat with mushroom, deep fried plant-based chicken and a plant-based meat lasagna served, all with a glass of wine.
Outstanding Service Award
Sip
Diners were well taken care of by the exceptional servers at Sip, where the personal touch reigned supreme. They also 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.
Outstanding Value for Money Award
Green Friday
Value for money indeed at our first stop on the Challenge, 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. All that for just RMB108!
Outstanding Restaurant Award
Tomatito
Newly crowned Chef of the Year at the That's Shanghai Food & Drink Awards 2020, Koen Vessies and Tomatito pulled out all the stops for the challenge! Kicking off with a glass of cava, they then wowed diners with: porcini mushroom, plant-based beef and spinach mini tacos; a "two fingers one bite" plant-based meat explosion of 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. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how they won the Outstanding Restaurant Award!
Zee-Ai 2020 Calorie Challenge Loyal Fans Award
We'd also like to give a massive shout out to some big fans who took part in almost all of the dinners: Ondine and his three fellow diners, who win the Zee-Ai 2020 Calorie Challenge Loyal Fans Award. Until next time, guys!
About Zee-Ai
As an innovative product, Zee-Ai plant-based meat has the advantages being of cost-effective, tasting close to animal meat. It also comes in many categories, with rapid innovation. In terms of raw materials, plant-based meat selects non-transgenic soybean, which is also rich in plant protein.
In addition to joining the Zee-Ai Calorie Challenge, and being able to taste innovated plant-based food in Shanghai's well-known restaurants, consumers can also buy Zee-Ai plant-based products through online channels. That's right, it's available on Tmall, Tmall Supermarket, JD, Pinduoduo, Meituan, Ding-dong, Freshfresh.com, etc. In additional, consumers can also buy Zee-Ai plant-based meat in RT-MART, Auchan, Carrefour, Jiuguang and Ito Yokado retail outlets.
Zee-Ai products have been widely praised by Internet celebrities, media and consumers. Scan the QR Code and follow Zee-Ai on WeChat to find out more:
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