Joe Thottungal, the chef and owner of Coconut Lagoon, a well-established Indian restaurant on St. Laurent Boulevard, won silver Saturday night at the Canadian Culinary Championships in Kelowna, B.C.
Last fall at Ottawa’s Gold Medal Plates Competition, Thottungal topped a field of 10 Ottawa-area chefs to qualify for the national contest, the crowning event in a network of fundraisers for Canada’s Olympians.
In Ottawa and Kelowna, Thottungal presented judges with a dish that relied heavily on the influences of his homeland, India’s Kerala province — halibut poached in spiced oil, with fish curry crumbs, woodland mushroom aviyal and a lentil emulsion. Thottungal, who opened Coconut Lagoon a dozen years ago, also conducts tours of Kerala, which is renowned for its flavourful, spicy cuisine.
Ottawa chef Joe Thottungal’s poached halibut dish at the 2017 Canadian Culinary Championships.
Named the champion last night was chef Jinhee Lee of Foreign Concept in Calgary, for her Vietnamese-inspired “Cha Ca La Vong” featuring turmeric fish mosaic with dill. Bronze-winning chef Eric Hanson from Prairie Noodle Shop in Edmonton made spot prawn with plum.
Chef Jinhee Lee’s turmeric fish dish
Chef Eric Hanson’s spot prawn with plum.
The three chefs on the podium topped an 11-chef field at the 11th annual edition of the national championships. Ottawa chef Marc Lepine of Atelier on Rochester Street has twice won the national event.
While Thottungal was away, his restaurant remained open while guest chefs from Ottawa restaurants staged a “takeover.”
phum@postmedia.com
twitter.com/peterhum