While the glamorous fashion on the 2022 Met Gala red carpet was a feast for the eyes, the dinner party inside was a feast for the bellies, thanks in part to Melissa King.
The Top Chef season 17 winner, who curated the first course in the evening's menu, exclusively shared with E! News what it was like to create an unforgettable culinary experience that paid homage to the gala's theme, "In America: An Anthology of Fashion" and also catered to a variety of tastes on a star-studded guest list that included Blake Lively, Kylie Jenner and Sarah Jessica Parker.
The dish that King landed on? A "bright and refreshing" hamachi crudo in a citrus broth, drizzled with Szechuan chili oil and paired with a yuzu kosho olive tapenade. According to the 38-year-old, the course captured "all the essence and beauty" of spring while being "playful at the same time."
"My goal was really to make an impression and I wanted to create a dish that really symbolized my version of America," she explained. "It hit elements from traditional Italian crudo and bridged into more of the Latin technique with the ceviche style broth. It also had notes of the Chinese Szechuan oil and Japanese flavor profiles."
King was also tasked with making sure her dish flowed with other foods on the menu, which consisted of an Americana-inspired barbecue striploin entrée from Marcus Samuelsson and a teacup-shaped chocolate cake by Amirah Kassem as a nod to the gala's "Gilded Glamour" dress code. Plant-based chef Lauren Von der Pool provided hors d'oeuvres including rice cakes topped with truffled potato bites, coconut ceviche and Yukon potato deviled "eggs" during the night's cocktail hour.
To pull off a stunning menu, the four chefs "collectively started to shoot out ideas of who was making specifically what type of dish" and the dishes then evolved from there, King recalled of the curation process. They then turned to Olivier Cheng Catering and Events to make sure the dishes were executed perfectly.
"We worked back and forth with our very strong catering team," King said. "You need to be able to cook for 500 people, but keep it consistent and clean. So working together with the catering team was fantastic."
King added that it was "such a honor" to also work with gala chairwoman Anna Wintour. "I feel blessed that she trusted me with this opportunity," she said. "I just never thought this experience could happen for me."
On May 2, King ascended the Met's iconic staircase wearing a Thom Browne suit and Chinese empress-inspired nail guards by Chris Habana. King—who identifies as gender fluid and uses she/they pronouns—said the red-carpet moment made "me feel seen as an Asian queer person in this world."
"I'm really proud," they said. "I just feel very honored to have been able to have the invitation and to go through this experience."
Keep reading for a closer look at the Met Gala dinner.
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