And the winners are... Winners of the Malaysian International Gourmet Festival 2011

The Malaysian International Gourmet Festival 2011 ended with a beach party and awards ceremony at Sunway Lagoon. Martin Reyes rocked the night with live Latin music and toe tapping tunes, while guests spun salsa and merengue in the sand.  Stalls of tasty local food and plenty of drinks helped to energize and lubricate the celebration. For the month of October, close to 30 fine dining restaurants in Kuala Lumpur, served up their best dishes highlighting the growing gourmet cuisine scene in Malaysia. After a month of hard work tasting, savouring and expanding waist lines, judges and diners voted on, and awarded prizes to, restaurants in over 25 categories. According to the judges, here are just a few of the award winning spots you must experience while in KL.  And the winners are:  

Most outstanding cuisine:  Imperial Rama/Olive, Genting

Most outstanding overall dining experience:  Lafite, Shangri-La

Golden Cauldron Award for best all round restaurant 2011:  Chalet, Equatorial

Fine cuisine awards went to individual restaurants for the best of each course selected from their festival menu:

Canapes/Pre-Dinner:  Lafite

Appetizers:  Imperial Rama – Alaskan King Crab with Smoked Duck

Soup:  Chalet – Bouquet of Cappuccino of Morels with Caramel Pear Skewer

Starter:  Cuisine Gourmet by Nathalie – Blue Lobster Mille-Feuilee with a touch of caviar

Entrée:  Lafite – Butter Poached Boston Lobster

Main:  Mandarin Grill – Slow Cooked ‘Sous-Vide Style’ Wagyu Beef Cheeks, Summer Truffles, Celeriac Roots & Horseradish Foam

Desserts:  Senja – Chef Giovanni’s Tiramisu

And for fun, you'll need to know this especially if you like chatting up chefs - the title of Chef  Congeniality went to Daniel Sheen of The Olive, Genting-  those Aussies - personality plus! :-)


Visit the MIGF website for a full list of this year's winners.


Lively Latin music can be booked with Martin Reyes via email:  mrsalsa@salsahavanakl.com or martinreyes21@hotmail.com

Ecogreen, TTDI, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Ecogreen can get busy over the lunch period so if there's a crowd and you're in a hurry this is not the place to be. Service can definitely be improved in both speed and accuracy but organizations attempting to be socially responsible should be supported - the food is really good and the market well stocked  - so give them feedback on the service for a chance to improve and go eat some scrumptious environmentally sustainable meals. Fresh organic produce and simple dishes are the main reasons to visit this cafe. A sleek inviting contemporary design and an organic grocers are the cream cheese on your carrot cake (which, by the way, is something not to be missed). Ecogreen offers quite an extensive menu brimming with healthy meals. Lui cha is one such nutrient packed powerhouse - a bowl of brown rice, mixed greens and raw nuts topped with a hot green soup makes one of the most nourishing dishes you'll ever have. While not for everyone's taste buds (hubby turned his nose up) the well-being zealots will be in wholesome euphoria. The fish laksa is a winner in my books and, as mentioned already, you can't go past the carrot walnut cake for a sweet ending.  

Ecogreen

Organic Shop and Life Cafe

125 & 127 Jalan Aminuddin Baki

Taman Tun Dr. Ismail

60000 KL

Malaysia

+603 7725 8388

www.EcogreenOrganic.com.my

The Food Revolution by John Robbins

The Food Revolution, by John Robbins, is another eye opening book that has further driven me down the path of eating more like a herbivore and less like a carnivore. We each have a responsibility to ourselves, our world community and this earth to make informed consumer decisions. One of the biggest impacts we can have on our own health and that of our earth is choosing what goes into our mouths everyday. It is astounding to consider that the majority of people who spend a great deal of their time and income on eating often know more about the latest brand of car, phone or what's on at the movies than where their food comes from or the impact every bite has on ourselves and the earth around us. John Robbins provides easy to follow, well-written information and shows you how to distinguish food facts from fiction. Everyone living in the 21st century should read this book.          

More Pumpkin...

Last year I decided to try something different than the traditional pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving.  While reluctant to break from tradition, the recipe I found from Bobby Flay was enough to entice me, but then the question of making it gluten-free successfully was still looming.  I am happy to report, it worked beautifully!

Start with delicious Pumpkin Bread...add a few other ingredients and you are left with Pumpkin Bread Pudding with a Spicy Caramel Apple Sauce.  Add a scoop of vanilla bean icecream and life is good!  Having southern roots, bread pudding is something I love, but my husband is not such a fan.  I am happy to report he has been converted to a bread pudding lover also, at least for this one!

The great news with this recipe is that you can make the pumpkin bread by itself also.  Add a cup of chocolate chips to the batter and you have a second delicious option for a dessert that is sure to please your family and friends. Also, if gluten is not an issue for you, use 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour instead of the three gluten free flours in the recipe and omit the xanthan gum. Here is the pumpkin bread recipe to start your week and I will post the Pumpkin Bread Pudding recipe to round out your week in a few days.

Pumpkin Bread:

4 Tbsp butter or margarine, softened

1 cup gluten-free flour blend 

1/2 cup millet flour

1/4 sweet sorghum flour 

1/2 teaspoon fine salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 tsp xanthan gum 

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1 cups sugar

1/4 cup honey 

1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil

8 ounces (scant 1 cup) unsweetened pumpkin puree

2 large eggs

2/3 cup water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter or lightly spray the bottom and sides of a 9-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. 

Whisk together all flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum and spices in a small bowl.

In the bowl of a standing mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the 4 tablespoons softened butter, sugar, honey and oil at high speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl a few times. Add the pumpkin puree and mix until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until just incorporated. At low speed, slowly add the flour mixture and water and mix until just combined. Spread the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 60 to 75 minutes. Let cool in the pan on a baking rack for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and let cool completely...or slice and enjoy warm with a nice cup of coffee or glass of milk.

Taman Tun Market, TTDI, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

This is the guy to buy your pork from.  Tell him what you want to make and he will tell you which cut you need.  

 Fresh tofu - very good.

 Get your baking supplies from here.  Much cheaper than the supermarket and they have everything!

Here's the spot from where to get your chicken.  Cut however you like and you can even get free range organic chooks.

Fresh, fresh fruit.  Venezuelans, carribenos - the store in front of this one sells plantains and yuka!

 The spice lady will make your own mixes from scratch.  Especially great are her Thai curries.  Buy some curry paste here and pair with fresh coconut milk from the stall in front.  Yum!

Buy your fish from this guy!  He'll tell you what's fresh, debone, descale, fillet - whatever you want.

Here's your butcher.  Australian beef - much cheaper than supermarkets and cut/ ground to order.

 Yes, you can get fresh flowers too.

More fresh herbs and veges.

This undercover market is open most days and is a cleaner and cooler alternative to many wet markets around town.  The bonus is it's open until after midday so there's no need to get up at some ungodly hour on the weekend to get fresh produce. There's undercover or open air parking for a minimal fee - free on Sundays - and easy to get to too. If you're coming from the Sprint Highway, take the TTDI exit and follow Jalan Datuk Sulaiman all the way to the end, make a right hand turn after the last set of lights and you'll see a multistory building with a reddish brown roof and lots of cars entering and exiting.

Open 7 days, 7:30am - 12:30pm
Taman Tun Market
Jalan Wan Kadir
TTDI
Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia

Afternoon Tea, Lobby Lounge, Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

For an elegant afternoon tea, the Lobby Lounge at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel is a hard spot to beat. The newly renovated setting is refined and beautiful. Comfy lounges and dark wood tables are complemented by plush fabrics, subtle lighting and superb table dressings, creating a genteel atmosphere. The floor to ceiling windows invite natural light and offer views to the lush green park.  A recently added outdoor patio opens up onto perfectly manicured gardens begetting an alluring locale for early morning coffee or sundowner cocktails.

Afternoon tea fun begins with your selection of tea or Illy coffees. There are well over 40 different types of tea available and most of them can be previewed via a sniffer box! Green, black, white, fruity, organic and herbal teas from around the world are awaiting trial. I went with the Argentinian Verbena - a light tea with a clean fresh lemony sapidity - perfect for cleansing the palate in between bites.  

Once you've got your drinks sorted there are more decisions to make. Do you go with the traditional Royal English Afternoon Tea or Chef Holger's Chocolate themed selection?  Both sets are presented on a three tiered intricate display with savoury, semi-sweet and sinfully sacchariferous layers. Both are composed of sandwich squares made with soft in-house baked bread filled with smoked salmon and horseradish cream, egg salad with chives, chicken and sweet corn, and cucumber and mint cream cheese. The semi-sweet layer proffers plain, raisin or chocolate scones harmonized with strawberry jam, marmalade, clotted cream or lemon curd. The lemon curd is worthy of a sentence all to itself - creamy with a little zing, not too sweet and clearly made with the freshest of lemons. With the first two layers being pretty much equal, the deciding factor between the two sets will be your dessert preference. 

Both, of course come with a variety of miniature confections. Of note in the Royal English Tea is the Cambridge Burnt Cream - appearing like creme brulee topped with a fine layer of hard caramel but underneath a slightly different, unexpected texture of English baked vanilla custard, richer and creamier than that found in a traditional creme brulee. Also delightful is the Raspberry Mille Feuilles - soft raspberry jelly sandwiched between sophisticated layers of puff pastry and cream. In addition, the Marbled Cheesecake, Dundee Cake and Lemon Macaroon make this a scrumptious dessert platter. The Chocolate Afternoon Tea comes with its own irresistible temptations. Dark Chocolate Eclairs, White Chocolate Sacher Cake, Hazelnut Macaroons and Dark Chocolate Rasberry Truffles are a chocoholic's dreamland. Executive pastry chef, Holger Deh, regularly rotates his luscious creations giving repeat offenders a different decadent nirvana every visit. 

Afternoon tea is available daily from 2:30 - 6pm at 78RM ++ per set. For weekend sinning be sure to make an advance reservation.

Lobby Lounge
Ground Floor
Mandarin Oriental
Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
+6 03 2179 8881
www.mandarinoriental.com

Heavenly Thai, Bangsar Shopping Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Heavenly Thai in Bangsar Shopping Centre has it all - delicious and beautifully presented food, fast friendly informative service, and a lovely setting pleasing both to the eye and the ear with a live pianist on the weekends. You can't go wrong with anything you order here but dishes not to be missed are the chicken and coconut soup served in a fresh coconut, and the chicken with tamarind sauce. Of course you must eat mango sticky rice for dessert - sweet lush mango, gooey sticky rice and salty coconut milk sprinkled with crunchy sesame seeds - a taste and texture sensation. Prices are a little more expensive than many Thai places around town (about 60RM per person with one drink) but I think the quality, location, ambience and super fast service are deserving. Heavenly Thai is suitable for a quiet romantic dinner, but equally good for a group (or maybe better - more people more dishes to share ;-).  Be sure to make a reservation for weekend dining.

Heavenly Thai
F15 1st Floor
Bangsar Shopping Centre (next to Alexis)
285 Jalan Maarof
Bukit Banda Raya
59000 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
+603 2093 7708
www.seacuisine.com.my