Multi award-winning Ghanaian chef, Francis Otoo served as a judge at the 2025 Events DC Embassy Chef Challenge (DC-ECC), held on July 10 at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C., joining its panel for the first time. The event brought together embassy chefs from around the world to showcase their national cuisines.
Representing the Embassy of Ghana, he was part of a judging panel that included Ghanaian Top Chef alum and Food Network star, Chef Eric Adjepong; food writers Lenore T. Adkins and Tim Ebner; and Northeast Editor of Eater, Tierney Plumb.
Chef Otoo’s role included evaluating the culinary submissions of competing chefs representing various embassies. It included assessing dishes based on criteria such as taste, presentation, creativity, and representation of cultural heritage.
The panel handed out the Judges’ Choice awards, announcing the Embassy of Peru as the first with Chef Michael Ciuffardi’s Seco Norteño Ravioli, featuring cilantro-braised beef ravioli over a loche squash emulsion.
The Embassy of China took second with Chefs Xianglin Zhu, Wen Su, and Wenhui Jia’s pineapple sweet and sour shrimp and osmanthus-scented lotus root threads cake. The Embassy of Morocco came third with Chef Ilham Achmakou’s pastela with chicken and almond.
Chef Otoo has been a prominent participant in the DC-ECC event, winning silver in 2018 in both the Judges’ Choice and People’s Choice categories with his signature lamb jollof, a West African one-pot rice dish cooked with a tomato-based stew. It marked a significant breakthrough after five years of participation without a win.s
In 2019, he won the DC-ECC’s Pepsi Best Beverage Award for his “Ashantie Mule Cocktail,” a drink made with pressed fresh ginger, lime juice, Ghanaian spices, simple syrup, and vodka. He also presented his acclaimed lamb jollof and an “Ashantie Mojito Mocktail,” a non-alcoholic version.
He has had a distinguished career spanning over three decades. He served as the head chef at the Embassy of Ghana in Washington, D.C., where he prepared meals for notable figures, including four former Ghanaian presidents, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, Nobel Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and other international dignitaries.
Originally trained to become a dietitian, he discovered his passion for nutritional and creative cooking. He earned the highest culinary degree in Ghana and furthered his education with courses in London and the United States. His approach to cooking emphasizes both taste and presentation, viewing it as a form of art.
Since 2009, he has been the executive chef at Maplewood Park Place in Washington, D.C., overseeing meal preparation for three dining venues and managing a staff of 16. He is known for creating innovative dishes like summer salad in a radicchio cup and parmesan-encrusted salmon.
Together with his wife, Sarah Otoo, he runs Fransar Catering Services, a company that has catered events ranging from weddings to church conferences, earning admiration for its professionalism and delicious food.
Written by Oral Ofori
Oral Ofori is Founder and Publisher at www.TheAfricanDream.net, a digital storyteller and producer, and also an information and research consultant.
