Knorr - Now I K-Now How's It's Pronounced

Who would have thought the humble chicken stock cube that I grew up with has actually such a pedigree history behind it? And who would have imagined so many Chefs, from all genres, use it as well.  And who would have thought that it is such a versatile item, so much more than just "chicken stock".  AND I honestly never knew that the K in Knorr is NOT silent, unlike knock or know or knickers.

The media launch for the Knorrs event was a lavish affair, held at the Ritz Carlton, complete with three Chinese Celebrity Chefs in tow.  The event catered mainly for the chinese media, as most of the press conference was in smatterings of Mandarin and Cantonese, and translated only to the MD of Unilever Food Solutions, Mdm Nusrat Perveen.

With the theme 40 Years of Golden Choice, Knorr Chicken Stock ambassador Master Chefs Sun (陈志新师傅) and Wong Wing Chee (黄永帜师傅) led the way with an insightful chefs’ forum and conducted cooking demonstrations to the delight of the other participating chefs, topped with sampling of selected dishes.

According to Hong Kong Chef Wong says whilst the Chinese cuisine internationally is very wide and draws influences from even the middle eastern cuisine, the Malaysian Chinese cuisine is largely skewed to Cantonese cooking.  But it is an evolving cuisine, which Malaysian Chef Sun agrees

“With more than 5,000 years of Chinese food culture, it is no wonder that the true essence of this Oriental cuisine has evolved so well through history", says Sun.

It is in this context that both chefs say Knorr Chicken Stock brings out the best flavours of natural ingredients because of its natural chicken umami. It is made from real chicken with a perfect blend of quality spices which are slow cooked with high-tech drying process that fully retains the flavours and aroma.

Chef Wong says: “For budding chefs, think out of the box as you continuously innovate dishes and constantly benchmark yourselves with international cuisine for greater development.”

Chef Sun’s specialities include creating new fusion Chinese dishes through bold innovation and to break away from tradition, combining Chinese style food materials with Western-style decoration,

His credo for up and coming chefs - don't be afraid to ask more, never forego learning and work hard! Anyone who wants to be a successful chef and boss should have plenty of enthusiasm, great curiosity and thirst for knowledge!

And by the looks of it, both their credo seems to be, "do not hesitate to use Knorr's chicken stock", certainly dispelling any preconceived myths that top Chefs do not resort to these kind of everyday shortcuts that us mere mortals take.

Unilever Food Solutions (UFS)  is the food service division of Unilever.

Their ingredients are some of the staples of professional kitchens in 74 countries.  As one of the world’s top foodservice companies, UFS provides professional ingredients and services to meet the many different needs of their customers — from hawker centres to 5-star hotels; and from school canteens to large food chains. They help chefs all over the world serve tasty, wholesome meals,

One particular product on display that caught my eye, and according to food guru, Alice Yong of Jom Makan, is a great product, is the powdered salted egg yolk.  With salted egg being quite the flavour enhancer is so many dishes, this product certainly would be a boon to those hesitant to use copious amounts of salted eggs from scratch.

Q&A session with the panel of Chefs, before they proceeded with the cooking demonstrations...

And for the cooking demos, the following dishes were displayed.

DISHES FEATURED:

1) 孜然盐煎海鲜盘 (Seafood Platter) by Chef Sun

2) 金汤胜瓜虾球 (Sauteed Chinese Okra with Prawns) by Chef Sun

3) 青葱翠绿拼鸡卷 (Asian Vinaigrette Chicken Roll) by Chef Alan

4) 红鲷鱼泡飯 (Red Snapper with Rice in Soup) by Chef Wong

5) 糯米蟹 (Crab Glutinous Rice) by Chef Wong

Seafood platter by Chef Sun.

Asian Vinaigrette Chicken Roll by Chef Alan.  This was actually my personal favourite, the vinaigrette had a nice balance of tang and other flavours, whilst the chicken was reminiscent of that gelatined chicken roll which you hardly see these days.

Petola With Prawn.  The broth surrounding the dish, presumably made from the chicken stock, was actually very nice.

Red Snapper in Rice With Soup, which I thought was a bit strange to be serving at that hour in the day... (4pm).

And the final dish, prepared by the Hong Kong Celebrity Chef Wong, was delicious but far too filling, and a bit difficult to eat truth be told.  But nevertheless it served its purpose to highlight what great food enhancers Knorrs Chicken Stock can be.  The cooking looked effortless.

For further media information, please contact Angeline Mah or Thong Kok Wah of Integrated Public Relations (iPR) Tel 016 6239 180 / 012 388 6023 or email integratedpr@gmail.com

Cloudy Bay Sail Away Promotion

Always brightens the day to have one of these in my hands with much thanks to them kind folk at Moet Hennessy Diaego Malaysia.

For the months of May and June, buy a bottle from participating outlets, to be eligible for entry into the Sail Away promotion which features a total of twenty grand prizes, whereby each lucky winner will receive all four Cloudy Bay variants - Cloudy Bay Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir and Te Koko- in a Samsonite cabin bag.

Participating Outlets ARE:

Pigs & Wolf (Tropicana, Bangsar, Pavilion)
Caffeinees, E.G.G., Hotel Journal, Pietro, DoubleTree KL, Exquisite World, Marianis @ 7, Rewine, Eastern Wine, 9Wine, Vinum Cellar, Automall, Vantage Wine, Grandious LGK, Room 69, Cohiba, Brazzo, Signature, Enfin by James Won, Jake’s Steakhouse

For more information on Cloudy Bay please visit the following links
www.cloudybay.co.nz/
www.twitter.com/cloudybay
www.youtube.com/user/CloudyBay
www.instagram.com/cloudybay/

Elegantology, With Guest Chef Jes Chew

To be absolutely honest, I have no idea what the concept of Elegantology is, although I have been several times, but always for events.  I can't really see myself dining there voluntarily because it is also a boutique, ostensibly a fashion house of sorts...showcasing famous designers, so as a fashion illiterati, I would find no comfort in dining in a place that is all decked up with clothes and stuff.  And while I realise this paragraph may be the death knell for me ever receiving an invitation from them again, I am just saying what I feel.  It's a great venue for events, because it's different, and edgy, and well, elegant, but would I traipse in for say lunch, or even dinner?

We were invited to sample the menu of Guest Chef Jes Chew, with a selection that is clearly tropically if not Malaysian inspired, with interesting items such as deconstructed Bandung Sirap for dessert.

The Bang Bang Chicken with Satay Sauce and Cucumber strings was palatable enough.  The chicken felt sous vide-ed, and was tender, a bit too tender for my liking.  I prefer my chicken with more texture, and I immediately regretted my choice of starter when I saw the others.

Spicy Tuna, Compressed Watermelon and Pickled Chilli Crisps. And interesting blend of sweet and salty, and use of watermelon, which almost always lends a refreshing dimension to starters.

To accompany lunch, we had a choice of cocktails.  The Havana Rambutan Mojito was rather innovative, if not a bit sweet, but for the ladies and sweet toothed, (I know they're not necessarily one and the same, but generally ladies who aren't whisky swiggers prefer a sweeter drink) this drink would be a smash hit.

Although it sounded the least interesting in the menu, this was actually the most fascinating starter, Charcoal Smoked Salmon, Soy Ikura and pickled melon salad.  Dazzling presentation, complete with frozen palm, not to mention the highly striking colours of the salmon, and edible flowers.

No complaints here, pumpkin soup with white truffle oil, and crab meat...though now that I look at the golden needle mushrooms, they remind me of .....oh never mind, this is a child friendly blog.  The soup was rich, and satisfying.

Martell Cane Sugar, ...Martell VSOP with sugar cane juice, triple sec and Ribena.

Tiger Prawn Pasta, Squid Ink and Prawn Head Foam.  Actually this dish was very good.  Although I don't understand the Foamy Fascination, the tastes were great, and the pasta cooked well.  Love the robust flavours which the foam, I have to reluctantly admit, contributed.

Sarawakian Pepper Beef, (as in the pepper is from Sarawak, not the beef),  Onion Parsnip and Garlic Broccolini....which I ordered.  In retrospect, compared with the other stuff, mine was rather pedestrian, though it was good old comfort food, and the beef, a fillet cut, was cooked well.  Of course Sarawak pepper is world's best!

Cod Fish, Nestum Crust, Otak Otak Cream, Eggplant and Croissant.  Okay, a bit too much going on here, totally drowning the fish, (excuse the pun), so they really could have used any cheap fish and it would have made minimal difference, because those are really powerful flavours.  Otak Otak Cream!!! Wow.  Give me a mantao to soak it all up.

That's Chef Jes Chew there....

Valrhona Ganache, Citrus Cake and Citrus Segments... I totally did NOT like the gelatined Valrhona Ganache which had the texture of Wood Ears.... but the rest was okay, can't really go wrong with chocolate and citrus.

I love watching Chefs at work...

Chef Jes explaining to us the various dishes.

Oh, that's my orange cake after removing the veil

Jagung Ice Cream Potong, Pop Corn, Durian and Corn Cream.  A visually pretty dish.  Didn't get to try, so have no comment.

Sirap Bandung 1.0.....Well, a picture paints a thousand words.  Definitely deconstructed, the milk I presume is in those white balls, and the "sirap" is in the jelly.

It was a most enjoyable lunch experience actually.  Kudos to Chef Jes for daring to be different, and taking so many bold steps with so many bold flavours, admittedly hits and misses, but I really do admire the way chefs have this blank infinite canvas before them where they can express their creativity.

Address: Solaris Dutamas, 1, Jalan Dutamas 1, Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Phone:+60 3-6206 5577

Huckleberry After Dark

Huckleberry, such an interesting word...It's actually a berry, lots of it in Montana, I've even had the jam before....So to some it's a berry... Then there's Moon River, my Huckleberry friend....unless he was implying his friend was a fruit,...but apparently it refers to someone who's been your longtime friend, also reminiscent of the carefree days... then there's Huckleberry Finn, that famous character spawned by Mark Twain.

Circa last year, at the corner shop in Plaza Damansara where the Moon don't shine no more, lies Huckleberry Food & Fare, which for the longest time, baffling me, closed its doors at 6pm sharp.  Such a travesty, I thought, to let such premises go to waste at night...

And next thing I know, lo and behold, I get an invitation to Huckleberry After Dark.... Kinda like Princess Fiona in Shrek, who at sunset morphs into something else.  

So, basically, the place is now open at night, with cocktails and burgers, and lots of pub like food, and .....COCKTAILS, my least favourite drink in the world.  But they do have other stiff drinks too, phew.  Okay I actually lie, I don't mind cocktails, but I generally find them a waste of calories since the sugar content is usually very high.

However, that did not stop me from having some fun at the various counters set up at Huckleberry After Dark (HAD from now on), and mixing my own cocktails, and dramatically cutting down the sugar.  The stations all had the ingredients ready on hand, with a bartender to assist and guide.  As it was predominantly a media event, the theme was "hands on, make it your own partay".

Some fancy smancy apparatus set up, I can only hazard a guess that this copper implement is used to make cappucino in the old days..... for rugby players.

One of the guest trying her hand at the Minion station, which had Captain Morgan rum as the main ingredient.

Whisky sour, more my thang, but there was a long queue for this, so I decided to try my hand at the Mint Julep

That's me..I used to be a fan of Maker's Mark Bourbon years ago, but in my old age, I find bourbon on it's own a bit too harsh for my flailing liver, so using it in the Mint Julep Cocktail was an ideal solution.

The Mixologist was on hand to guide me through every step of the way....

This being the first dish that was served, was a welcome respite from the constant flow of cocktails on an empty stomach.  Beef Tacos, which I thought were rather delicious.  Tender pieces of beef which was almost like pulled beef.

This handsome sized wiener slathered in macaroni and cheese.  The sausage was plump and juicy, though I personally don't care much for mac and cheese, but they also have the coney dawg option.

I loved the Guacamole, and I would be quite happy sitting at the bar chugging their Pitchers of a less sweet cocktail and munching on this.

This was a Korean styled fried chicken, but the kimchi sauce was just too overpowering.

I always prefer savoury waffles, so this is right up my alley, Fried Chicken With Waffles.  Great sharing platter over drinks.

Their signature chocolate fondant.  Fudgy chocolate cake with flowy molten chocolate ganache somewhere beneath....great if you're a chocolate lover.

According to Natasha, the Project Consultant

According to Natasha, the Project Consultant (Back row left), "we have worked hard in wanting to deliver this streetfood truck experience to you, alongside boozy goodness to bring you a well rounded, relaxing experience, where comfort satisfies your belly"

So if you're looking for a late night spot with lots of pub grub cum street food kinda thing, with spirit spiked milkshakes, check out Huckleberry After Dark

Address
2G&4G, Jalan Medan Setia 2
Plaza Damansara
Damansara Height
Tel: 03-20987983
Email: afterdark@huckleberry.my