MAKAN-MAKAN MALAYSIA

Fancy a culinary whirlwind tour of Malaysia? You can do just that at The Westin Kuala Lumpur’s all day dining  restaurant The  Living Room for its “Taste of Malaysia”  come 4th April 2013. 

Blessed with a fabulous food heritage, The Westin KL will take diners on a plated 'tour' where you can discover varied dishes from all 14 different states in Malaysia. Brace yourself for a surfeit of multi-cultural Malay, Chinese and Indian cooking as well as intriguing ethnic fare from East Malaysia.

Set your tastebuds alight with Straits Chinese or Peranakan/Nyonya specialities such as Chicken Kapitan (Kapitan's Chicken Curry) and Ayam Pongteh (braised chicken in dark soya sauce and local spices) to typical Malay Kelantanese delicacies like Nasi Kerabu (mixed herb rice) and Ayam Percik (grilled chicken basted with spice marinade) from the expansive buffet.

 Local celebrity chef - Dato Chef Ismail will be also conducting a live cooking demonstration at The Living Room. A great chance to watch first-hand how the Malaysian Chef Ismail cook up a storm and share his tips and recipes.

 

Each week will focus on a chosen state, starting with “A Taste of Negeri Sembilan” on 11th April and ending with “A Taste of Borneo” on 24th November 2013.

Don't miss the “Taste of Malaysia” buffet every Thursday, Saturday and Sunday starting from the week of 4th April 2013 at the Living Room based on the following hours:

Every Thursday – “Taste of Malaysia” buffet dinner from 6.30 pm to 10.30 pm

Every Saturday, Sunday and Public holidays - “Taste of Malaysia” Hi-Tea from 12 noon to 4 pm

Price:    RM128++ for dinner

RM98++ for Hi-Tea        

Reservations are highly recommended at 03 2773 8338 or email westindining@westin.com

For further information, visit www.thewestinkualalumpur.com

FRUITFUL TIME IN RAUB

Durians, durians everywhere...

Off this beaten track lies a durian orchard

Durians, durians, durians! Although the season has yet to reach its peak, our recent trip to Raub proved fruitful enough.

At the entrance of Eddie's durian orchard

Fruitful visit to Raub!

Raub Durian Orchard owner, Eddie Yong was kind enough to meet us in the heart of Raub town and led us to his verdant plantation. Without wasting any more time, he proceeded to open up some durians for our group.

Mau Sang Wong or Musang King or Raja Kunyit is characterised by
its faint starburst lines on the thorny skin

The ingenious guy even invented his own durian-opening implements! Some of our group members even tried their hands at it without breaking out in a sweat.


Since it's early days of the durian season, we only savoured 3 varieties: Ang Heh (Red Prawn), D24 and Musang King (also known as Raja Kunyit or Mau Sang Wong). My personal favourite was the creamy Ang Heh which has a muted bitter aftertaste.

Then Eddie led us on an uphill trek around his orchard where passion fruit and rambutans are also grown. He even has a 'bird's nest' hotel where swiftlets were lured to roost and build their precious nests inside the building.


Too bad we missed out visiting the groundnut and soyabean curd factories since it was late afternoon when we finally finished. But we managed to stop and buy packets of groundnuts to take home.

Our leisurely drive to Raub turned out to be pleasant enough and surprisingly short - only about 1.75 hours from KL. We departed after a sumptuous seafood lunch at Mei Keng Fatt. Feast your eyes on what we had!

The piquant Four Heavenly King vegetable dish

Lotus Leaf Garoupa reeled in loads of compliments from our guests
Tender frogs legs steamed with minced gingerMarmite crabs are just slurpilicious!

Dinner was in Bukit Tinggi - there were some hits and misses but still good nevertheless. Among the notable dishes were Steamed River Fish with Soya Sauce & Ginger, Fresh Water Prawns with Glass Noodles in Claypot and Beancurd with Minced Meat & Pine Nuts.