Mr. Gourmet: Deluxe Christmas Dinner With @progressivechef in Mauritius!
Mr. Gourmet has been a regular series on my Steemit blog since the very beginning.
Exploring different countries, different cuisines and dishes is a passion of mine and of course I like to share it with my Steemit audience !
A few months ago, a new Steemian called @progressivechef started commenting under my Mr. Gourmet posts.
He is a young professional chef from Mauritius, and we started talking on Steemit.chat - about Steemit, about Mauritius, and of course about food!
And then, a couple of weeks later, I first started planning to come to Mauritius for different reasons.
@progressivechef has been a long time member on Steemit now, best known for his foodie posts, Iron Chef competition and the first Steem/SBD accepting Restaurant in Mauritius.
It's been a long time coming and then it finally happened:
Meeting @progressivechef in Mauritius for a (Mr.) Gourmet Dinner!
I messaged @progressivechef shortly before we were flying out to Mauritius, so it was quite spontaneous.
Nevertheless, he found the time to invite us to an absolutely beautiful Hotel - the Westin Turtle Bay.
He has actually been head chef in this huge Hotel for several years!
It features different restaurants, ranging from Creole cuisine, to Asian fusion.
The day we met was actually Christmas Eve.
Since me and the team were away from our families in Germany we didn't have any particular plans for Christmas, so it was absolutely perfect to celebrate in such a gorgeous setting.
Look at the beautiful Christmas decorations at the Hotel!
@progressivechef was joined by his lovely nieces and nephews, who were all very kind and had interesting stories to share.
He guided us to an outside area of the restaurant, where we were sitting right next to the ocean and actually on the beach, in the sand!
Christmas doesn't get any better than this!
But then ... the food came!
@progressivechef was an amazing host who was so kind to order some of the best specialities of the restaurants for us.
Once the waiters started bringing in the different dishes, there was no end in sight!
They must have delivered probably over 10 different dishes, ranging from meat to seafood to sushi and more.
Mr. Gourmet was in absolute heaven - thanks again @progressivechef for organizing everything!
There were so many incredible dishes that I won't even try to list every single one, but instead give you a little sneak peek ...
Crispy Chicken Strips & Lamb skewers
The crispy chicken tenders were definitely some of my favorites. Crispy Chicken in general is almost always a safe bet - and with these, the meat was especially tender and the breading was perfectly crispy and flavourful.
The lamb on the other hand was very tender as well, topped with a yogurt sauce and flavoured with lots of oriental spices!
Vegetable wraps & vegetarian Sushi
This restaurant within the hotel offered a lot of asian fusion food, and some especially great sushi.
For our vegetarians, we had some delicious vegetable wraps (similar to a spring roll, but not deep fried) and some vegetable sushi.
Although traditional sushi is of course made with fish, this vegetarian option didn't seem to lack anything. It was already perfectly delicious on its own!
Sushi: Crispy Crab & Tempura Shrimp
Crispy Sushi is definitely my favorite type of sushi. The crunchy texture adds a whole different dimension to every bite!
The left one was a crab sushi, surrounded by a deep fried tempura layer around the nori (seaweed).
Tempura shrimp on its own is also one of my favorite appetizers - and I have to order it almost everytime I can spot it on a menu.
So the inside out shrimp roll consisted of crispy tempura shrimps, paired with avocado, and then surrounded by nori and rice.
Absolutely delicious!
Beef Wellington & Sweet and Sour Shrimps
Beef Wellington is quite a traditional dish which I wouldn't have expected to eat in Mauritius.
The beef was perfectly cooked - tender and a little pink inside. Accompanied by the stuffing, it was then wrapped in a delicious puff pastry.
On the right are some steamed shrimp, topped with sweet & sour chilli sauce - tender and flavourful, absolutely perfect!
Thank you so much to @progressivechef for inviting us and for organizing everything!
And also to his lovely nieces and nephews who came along. It was great to meet everyone!
Greetings to Mauritius guys - see you again soon!
© Sirwinchester
That looks like an amazing feast
Thanks! Yes it was absolutely amazing & delicious!
I was at these celebrations and wanted to be in this food
😉 next time I wish all Steemians could join me for this feast!
You made a great start to 2018. I hope this will continue for you. Meals look incredible
Thank you! Yes our christmas dinner was absolutely delicious!
Awesome! The food looks amazing
It tasted even better than it looks! 😋
Looks like everybody had a wonderful time this is what it's all about
Exactly! Christmas is a time to spend with your family or loved ones - and for us, it was quite a different christmas at the beach, but still in great company (and great food!)
First I would like to wish you a happy new year! I would like to thank you for sharing your experiences and the food looks good!
Thank you very much, I'm glad you enjoyed the post and a very happy new year to you as well!