Local master chefs will be cooking Maltese specialties for hundreds of Chinese later this week during a gala dinner at a Beijing hotel.

Aaron Degrabriele, Jimmy Aquilina and  Ramon Muscat will cook up a storm at the Minzu Hotel for an event marking the 47th anniversary of Malta establishing diplomatic relations with China.

Former prime minister Dom Mintoff visited China on March 31, 1972, just one month after US president Richard Nixon had done so. Mr Mintoff was the first western European prime minister to visit China after it was accepted into the United Nations.

The three chefs will be joined at the Minzu Hotel by fellow master chef Michael Cauchi and University of Malta lecturer Paulino Schembri.

The hotel has acquired a special oven allowing the chefs to bake Maltese bread for its guests during the gala dinner, scheduled for March 29.

Former tourism minister and Malta-China Friendship Society president Reno Calleja, who spearheaded the event, will be joined by  Malta’s ambassador to China John Aquilina during the event opening.

Mr Calleja thanked Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi and the Malta Tourism Authority for their financial support as well as lecturer Dr Schembri for convincing the master chefs, who graduated under his guidance, to travel to China for the dinner.

Marvin Gauci, who is the ministry’s culinary and gastronomy ambassador, will represent the ministry at the gala dinner.

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