A Magnum-minous Lunch At the Magnum Shop

I didn't know that there's a Magnum Shop.  It's the equivalent of Ice Cream's Fun Theme Park, where you can entertain yourself with all permutations of Magnum Ice Cream, just buy your basic stick, and coat it however you want with whatever you want..What a novel idea, I can't wait to bring the kids

 They recently hosted  an exclusive fine dining session at the MAGNUM Shop in Mid Valley Megamall (3rd floor, near the GSC Cinemas)to celebrate the best of Belgian Indulgence where guests were invited to caress their senses by experiencing exquisite chocolate inspired dishes created using the highest quality Belgian chocolate by Chef Steven Chin, Group Executive Chef of Magnum Kuala Lumpur.

A rather strange pairing in a way, because chocolate was actually used in the savoury foods.  Whilst I am all for sweet and salty pairings, I was quite intrigued to see what the end result of this adventure would taste like.

It was nice to see an old familiar face from days gone by, UGWUG, one of the pioneer food bloggers in days of yore.

“As the frontier of chocolate expertise, this event is organized to showcase how MAGNUM will tickle your palate by creating signature dishes that were infused with Belgian chocolate. We want our consumers to always remember that remarkable pleasurable moments are now beyond every bite of MAGNUM ice cream”, shared Mr Shawn Tan, Category Head (Ice Cream), Unilever Malaysia Holdings Sdn Bhd.

Chef Steven Chin has been creating unique dishes for different type of cuisines and desserts for five stars international hotels and fine dining restaurants and the chocolate inspired signature dishes were the interpretations of his vast culinary experiences and passion for chocolate.

To start, a  spice butternut squash velouté which is a butternut pumpkin soup, scented with cinnamon and topped with shaved bitter dark chocolate.  Well, you can't really go wrong with butternut, as we were saying on the table.  A few people thought it was a cappucino at first.  I enjoyed the soup, the flavours of the chocolate were subtle and the soup itself rather hearty.

Next was a marinated capellini pasta with ulam-ulaman served with crispy unagi beignet, salted choc emulsion, soy reduction and crispy ginger.  Unfortunately the pasta was way overcooked, so there was no texture to speak of, but the combination is actually rather good.  The slight hint of bunga kantan, the pungency of the local ulam ulaman, the piece of dried ginger that was very nice, and reminded me of that shocking scarlet red preserved ginger we used to eat as kids, that leave a crimson stain upon the tongue.  The dark chocolate on the unagi was rather unique.

Pan seared butterfish fillet served with sautéed baby spinach and white beurre blanc sauce (from the French for "white butter"). The white beurre blanc sauce is a hot emulsified butter made with vinegar and shallots, this particular version, with MAGNUM white chocolate added.  I personally am not a fan of white chocolate, at all, regardless of brand, so I can't say I was a fan of this dish.  Though I did think the butterfish was well seared.

Death by Chocolate is the richest chocolate dessert that MAGNUM Pleasure Store has ever offered. Death by chocolate is a baked to order warm chocolate molten lava cake served with MAGNUM chocolate brownies ice-cream and chocolate crunch pearls.  It was our opinion that this absolutely HAS to go onto the ala carte menu, for this dish will certainly be a hit.

Good chum Ann Lee (such a pleasant surprise to bump into her) and Malaysia's Hottest Blogger Tim Chew...

And in case we were not full, some other existing desserts to sample, the red velvet cake and the trifle...which looks yummy, but really, after that feast, I really could not tuck in another calorie...

MAGNUM  will be launching a campaign in April 2015 called “Celebrating Chocolate Pleasures”. This will mark another MAGNUM milestone that will provide consumers the ultimate taste of premium chocolate and ice cream experience through concourse events, digital contests and in-store promotions. For more information about MAGNUM ice cream and it latest offering, please visit MAGNUM Malaysia official facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/MagnumMalaysia.