BWW Reviews: TASTE ASIA 2015 in Times Square Excites the Crowds

Taste Asia, the extraordinary celebration of food and culture, excited throngs of visitors in Times Square from Friday, June 26th and Saturday, June 27th. It is the largest Asian food festival in North America. Now in its 6th year, Taste Asia is presented by a partnership between Epoch Times and NDT Television. Over 100,000 people attended the extravaganza and Broadwayworld.com was there for the food and festivities.

On Friday, Taste Asia announced the winners of the first Best Asian NYC Restaurants Contest in 62 national cuisines and dish categories, and presented one lucky person with a trip to Asia. The online platform was very popular with people who cast their votes for their favorite restaurants.

The first day of the festival also featured an array of cooking demos from culinary dynamos including Chef David Bouley (Bouley, Brushstroke), Japanese Iron Chef Yuji Wakiya (KOA),Hemant Mathur (Haldi, Chola), Joe Isidori (Chalk Point Kitchen, Black Tap Burgers), Terry French (Food Network's World Extreme Chef 2012), Beat Bobby Flay veterans, Brian Tsao (Mira Sushi) and Esther Choi (Mokbar), and 2011 International Culinary Competition Gold Medal Winner Zizhao Luo (Radiance). Each chef took a turn in the Taste Asia outdoor kitchens to show off their skills and explain their techniques to onlookers.

On the Saturday, things heated up with the 7th International Chinese Culinary Competition where attendees witnessed top chefs from around the world compete for the Gold Medal. They took turns preparing two different dishes each within their cuisine category with only 40 minutes to finish. The overall winner was Jialiang Gan for Cantonese cuisine (from Toronto, Canada). Other medal winners included: Wei Huang for Shandong cuisine (New York), Ben Jie Ma for Sichuan cuisine (Cleveland, Ohio), Tadayoshi Ueda for Huaiyang cuisine (Tokyo, Japan) and Zhe Yan for Northeastern Chinese cuisine (San Francisco).

Cathy Erway, author of The Food of Taiwan and The Art of Eating In, hosted a special Dumpling Making Workshop. At 8 pm, attendees gathered around as Off The Great Wall's Dayin Chen and Mike Chen hosted a Dumpling Eating Contest, where the winner consumed 15 dumplings in two minutes.

Throughout the festival, Taste Asia offered tastings from the New York area restaurants including The Handpulled Noodle, Totto Ramen, Nyonya, Spicy Lanka, Gong Cha and Obao Noodles & BBQ. Crowds packed the food concession area to enjoy bubble teas, Asian beer, sesame noodles, ramen, and duck buns and sweet treats from vendors like Tiny Treats, crave.it and Spot Dessert Bar.

Times Square also came alive with a main stage that showcased captivating cultural performances including Siras Dance Company, Sounds of Korea and Samarai Sword Soul.

Taste Asia Food Festival ended in style with two ticketed James Beard House feasts on Sunday, June 28th. In the afternoon, Chefs Hemant Mathur & Surbhi Sahni hosted a luncheon highlighting authentic Indian dishes including Sago Potato Cakes, Black Seabass Pollichathu, Soft Shell Crab and Chef Mathur's famous lamb chops. In the evening, the James Beard House hosted a dinner with dishes provided by Chef Zizhao Luo (Radiance). Throughout the dinner the winners of the 7th Annual International Chinese Culinary Competition were honored while guests indulged in a six-course authentic Chinese meal, featuring Steamed Chilean Sea Bass, Chicken with Ginseng & Dates, and Chef Luo's trademark Crispy Eggplant.

In a summer full of food festivals, Taste Asia is outstanding. Great Asian chefs and remarkable cuisine were given well-deserved recognition and New Yorkers had a great time engaging in the food event.

More details about Taste Asia 2015 can be found at www.tasteAsia.org.

Photo Credit: Epoch Times

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