MAUI, HAWAII — They came. They soared.

That’s just what six chefs did for “Soaring Plates,” the gala dinner held a week ago to culminate the Hawaii Food & Wine Festival’s celebration on Maui. I was lucky enough to join in on the fun as a guest of the Hawaii Tourism Bureau.

The dinner was held at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa, on its the newly finished grass patio overlooking the ocean on Ka’anapali Beach. About 350 guests took their seats at boldly black-and-white striped tablecloths just in time for a dazzling sunset.

The six-course feast kicked off with a starter by the resort’s Chef Gregory Grohowski of miso-cold smoked Maguro tuna with salmon roe, flower petals and yuzu Japanese mayo that did taste a little like a kicked-up version of the mainstay Kewpie Japanese mayo.

Chef Kentaro Chen of Shisen Hanten in Tokyo took the helm for the second dish. If you’re a fan of the original Japanese version of “Iron Chef,” his father will be only all too familiar to you. He is Kenichi Chen, the yellow-garbed Iron Chef who specialized in Chinese cuisine.

Chen’s take on Chinese lion head meatball was ethereal. I don’t think I’ve ever tasted a lighter meatball in my life. It came enrobed in a rich crab roe sauce. If there were any extras in the kitchen, I could have easily eaten any and all of them.

Next came one of my other favorite dishes of the night, orchestrated by Chef Jose Garces of the Garces Group and an “Iron Chef” on the American version of the show. His sublime dish featured two chorizo squid-ink agnolotti draped with thinly sliced grilled octopus, all in a saffron emulsion. The agnolotti were dramatic in color and incredibly supple in texture. We all remarked how genius it was to cut the octopus in thin slices rather than the usual thick chunks. It just married so much better with the delicacy of the pasta.

Chef Alessandro Stratta of Las Vegas featured sweet Kona lobster and Maui onions in his seafood stew that was garnished with radishes and fresh herbs.

Chef Jonathan Waxman of Barbuto in New York and Waxman’s in San Francisco served up classic grilled lamb chops with ratatouille made with Maui eggplant, onions, zucchini and tomatoes. My only regret was that the connective tissue hadn’t been removed from one of my chops, making it fairly inedible because I was unable to cut through it with the butter knife provided for the course. A steak knife would have done the trick, but none were set on the table, unfortunately.

Dessert was by legendary Pastry Chef Francois Payard of the eponymous patisserie in New York. He created Hawaii on a plate with his “Pineapple Paradise,” a sunny, refreshing motif of seared pineapple with bracing banana-passion-fruit ice cram and doll-sized tender almond financiers. The ice cream was my favorite part — tart yet with a more rounded complexity because of the creamy banana in it.

We ate heartily, but we also worked — as evidenced in this fun photo, courtesy of the Hyatt folks. Yes, this is what happens when you invite food writers to sit at one table at an event.

More: Take Five Q&A with Graham Elliot, Lincoln Carson, Michelle Karr-Ueoka, and Rory

Hermann And: Eating on Maui’s Kaanapali Coast

And: Basking in the Luxury of the Four Seasons Oahu

And: Chowing Down at Mahina & Sun’s and The Pig & The Lady

And: A Visit to Koko Head Cafe, Tin Roof Maui, and the Huge Shirokiya Village Walk