The four-nation LG Regional SolarDOM Competition 2007 will make its next halt in Iran in October.

This follows the spectacular success of the recent Abu Dhabi and Dubai rounds, said an LG official.

Last year, Persian contestants took all the top honours in the team and individual categories and organisers are expecting Iranian participants to better its performance and turn out in larger numbers for this year's event.

After Iran, the LG SolarDOM Regional Cooking Competition travels to Saudi Arabia and South Africa, which boast of a large community of budding chefs.

This year, in the Dubai round, Nazek Nabhan and Rasha Arkoub were named as the winners in the Individual category and Noura Mohammad and Nadia Khan won in the Team category.

In Abu Dhabi, where the contest was held due to the overwhelming interest, Suha Al Saadi and Fadia Al Halik were selected as the individual winners.

Futoon Al Saadi and Ahlam Huseein were the winners in the team competition.

The Beach Rotana hotel, venue of the event, saw some keen competition, with results being very close. Judges admitted that each dish created was an exquisite experience on its own and described many of them as works of art.

'The LG Regional SolarDOM Cooking Competition 2007 had a greater result than expected and having the second phase of the competition in Abu Dhabi for the first time had a rewarding impact. The results were phenomenal so far and we are looking forward to the next step and the finals eventually,' said president, LG Electronics, Middle East and Africa, K W Kim.

Due to the overwhelming response of last year's event, organisers had decided to hold the UAE part of the competition in two phases - in Dubai and Abu Dhabi - to be able to give every participant a shot at the title.

Winners of the competition have received SolarDOM microwave ovens from LG Electronics.

Competitors can participate in either individual or team categories with a total of five winners from each category being selected to participate on the presentation date

A high-profile panel of expert judges will decide on 10 winning recipes - five individual entries and five team entries.

Six out of the 10 winners - four individual entries and two teams - will get a chance to prepare and share their recipes live at the special grand finale to be held in Dubai on November 19.TradeArabia News Service