The sun had some real competition last Sunday, as the wings were sizzling hot! Foodies converged on the Cost U Less Parking lot to effectively judge the ‘King of Wings” contest. This was the 4th installment of the event and by all accounts it went down very well! The focus of the event is to bring amateur chefs and friends together for a welcome addition to the Cayman food scene. A total of seven vendors were vying for the grand prize of CI$1000 and bragging rights. Your $10 food ticket gave you the opportunity to sample each booth and then select your favourite vendor.
When the event was announced, I needed very little convincing and quickly penciled it in my calendar. My Sunday lunch was sorted. The day was a scorcher, but thankfully we had a cool zone with a couple enviable water fans. Drinks were a plenty and the frozen daiquiris by The Sandbar were a hit. I wonder who was doing a better job at keeping us cool. I hope they bring those back next year for the large tent as well.
The event is a great opportunity for smaller restaurants and individuals to showcase their skills. Stephan, Contestant #3 is an upcoming chef from The National Youth Culinary Program. He worked feverishly to keep up with demand. The line to his booth stretched to the length of the parking lot in anticipation. His dish, hot wings including a bit of green salad did not disappoint.
Its all in The Seasoning
I like my meat well seasoned. Like overnight marinated, seasoned. In that category my favourite vendor was contestant #2 “Wing Man’ from Market Street Group. They really put some flavour into those wings and were rewarded first place for their efforts. When it was time to vote, I was torn between them and contestant #4, Mr. George Roper. He brought out all the stops with his winning pairings of fried breadfruit, plantains and festival. In addition to that, we had an option of fried and jerk wings! The jerk option was a bit too spicy for me, but my friend was in food heaven!
Wings Your Way
With only seven vendors the selections were quite varied. Contestant #5, Andy Blake who operates a jerk stand in George Town gave us two options. Tasty jerk wings with festival and curried wings with steamed white rice. One of my favourite vendors was Miss Gina, contestant #6. Miss Gina is no stranger to competition and made her debut at Cayman Cookoff in 2014. She and her friends love to cook and create recipes. Her wings were deep fried then dipped in her signature hot sauce which was also available for sale.
Patrons were spoilt for choice!
Miss Gina Connolly
King of Wings is all about Good Food Good Mood
The atmosphere was perfect with the local stations from DMS Broadcasting playing a mix of tunes to keep the crowd rocking. While the friendly bartenders from Sandbar Cayman kept everyone merry. And if you needed some in-between snacks, the sponsors Grace Kitchens provided a selection of sweet plantain chips and lightly salted banana chips to nibble on.
Team ‘Wing Man’ is King of Wings
Team ‘Wing Man’ deservingly took home the honors (people’s choice). I had a wildly good time and the cost effective lunch was a bonus. I hope you to see you at the next event. You can subscribe to the blog and follow me to my favourite events on island virtually or in person.
As always thank you for reading my blog and coming along this journey with me. See you next week!
