A PASSION for cooking coupled with flair can take you a long way. This was proved by Zubir Mohd Zain, the executive sous chef of Le Meridien hotel, after his team were the big winners for two consecutive Culinaire Malaysia competitions, namely 2005 and 2007. It's important to mention that the hotel only started operating in 2004.

Two years ago the team's effort was rewarded with seven gold medals! Namely the ‘overall champions' and the ‘most outstanding chef'. What makes the hotel such strong contenders? Malay Mail speaks to chef Zubir to find out more.

"We have a very strong team of people. Although many of them who had taken part in the 2005 competition have left the hotel, we have managed to train up a new team for the 2007 one. This year, we hope to be able to maintain our titles"

"Our strategy remains as such, we do not participate in events like ice carving because we do not have the suitable people for it. For the categories that we do take part in we make sure that we have the expertise and the people for it." said Zubir.

In light of the current economic downturn, the hotel has cut down on the participating categories but even so, they are still a force to be reckoned with and the ones to beat, if their impeccable track records say anything at all.

‘We have an ongoing simple training calender, although not as intensive as previous years it is highly effective with the full commitment of everyone involved. We do tastings and give feed-back to the team to keep up the quality and standards."

While it is true that dishes made from expensive raw material would feature in the competition, Zubir stressed that that is not the most important thing to look out for.

"People want to use lobsters and truffles to impress. But really, it is meaningless if one cannot cook well!

Expensive materials might give a slight edge but we believe that using the freshest possible ingredients makes the biggest difference of all. Presentation of course plays a vital role. I believe in simplicity, because the importance is in the taste"

For those participating in this year's competitions, you would be facing stiff competition from Le Meridien . Led by Chef Zubir, his team is aiming to retain their titles from last year.

"After all, we were already winners, so now we will train up to achieve again what we did previously."

Culinaire Malaysia 2009 takes place from August 11 to 14 in Kuala Lumpur this year. The event will see over 1000 participants from the region cook up a storm. The creative side of food preparation like ice carvings, vegetable carvings, table and cuttlery displays and a selection of hot, cold and dessert food items will be  displayed to the public.