Appreciation Grows, Hennessy XO & Michelin Star Chef, Alvin Leung

The youth of today and their single malts. In my day, the trickle of Hennessy X.O. into a glass of crackling ice, was the sign of ultimate luxury. It was a rare treat, given only during Chinese New Year and special occasions. Speaking of special occasions.....

..my dear buddy, AWHIFFOFLEMONGRASS (AWOL), very kindly included me in her exclusive list of invitees for Hennessy's XO Appreciation Grows, a lah dih dah event, organised by Hennessy, Moet Hennessy Diageo Malaysia Sdn Bhd (formerly known as Riche Monde Malaysia), and Milk PR Sdn Bhd, (who was the one who invited us thru AWOL, thank you very much).

At RM800 per person, we were full of heightened expectation, wondering what wonders lay in store in a specially constructed dome on the grounds of the Bukit Kiara Equesterian club, actually built on the site where horses did their daily trots around the corral. We were ushered into the outer sanctum of the large marquee, in the comforts of airconditioning, while waiting for the laggard guests to trickle in. When an invite says 6.30, black tie, one would expect a bit of punctuality.

We were then ushered yet another step closer into the holy of holies, into another sanctum, where we donned on state of the art wireless headsets that didn't work, but were regaled with the story of Hennessy XO, by the dashing Regional brand ambassador, Arnaud Mirey.


The Kuala Lumpur glitterati....


Speaking of Kuala Lumpur glitterati, if you know these two, you probably know the whole of KL. The inimitable Nigel Skelchy, who takes half an hour to move 20 metres because he has to stop and say hallo to everyone.


Happiness, apart from family, good health, friendship, love and all that, is seeing bottles and bottles of expensive liqour waiting to flow down our throats.


The Man of the Hour, Michelin Star Chef Alvin Leung, sharing a light moment with Frederic Noyere, MD Of Riche Monde Malaysia, in a "press conference" like setting. The floor was open to a very shy press, to ask questions. Of the 4 or 5 questions asked, I think 3 came from OUR group, namely Nigel, of course, and our very own celebrity, Aly of Red FM.





Alil naughty monkey, with BabeKL in the background!


She looks like she's crooning, That's What Friends Are For.


Our Menus, wrapped in a black napkin, like a tuxedo laidat. So classy hor!


The circus has come to town...the main dining area is one big domed tent, a bit like Hogwarts..the ceiling changes pictures and theme according to food that is served. Rather interesting concept.


The first dish was Glass Garden, an avant garde Hong Kong interpretation of a garden dish, made from baked morel soil, dehydrated enoki, braised caterpillar fungus, and green onion puree. It's supposed to resemble a vineyard in winter? Dried vine plants on the brown soil. I thought this dish was quite amazing. The green onion puree was something very unique, and the flavours were intriguing. Familiar, yet completely new. The texture, ethereal, and light.


The combination of the dried morel soil, which was delicious, with the green mousse was also inspirationally clever.


Orchids seem to be the FOTD. (flower of the day) [cheers to you, Fratmustard]


Har Mi...or Har Mai, a perfectly executed crouton of carebinero, sauteed capellini, roasted cherry tomatoes and deep fried sage. In English, its basically dried shrimp that has been cooked for 48 hours (much like serunding), tossed together with angel hair pasta. A lot of people declared this their favourite dish. Again, it was the familiarity and comfort food element of this dish that probably appealed to the palate, but yet, with that added culinary twist that we could never quite replicate.


Of course, Foie Gras is always MY favourite. So I was delighted when the health conscious like Nigel decided only to have a morsel of his, and passed the crumbs to the waiting rakyat. Palate Fantastique, pan fried foie gras meticellulose and xantana. I like it, when I don't know the meanings of more than half the words in the description.


Melt in the mouth, and that blob of foam on the foie gras, (molecular gastronomy ma!), awesome. Incidentally, all these dishes are paired with the XO, which our in house culinary guru, Nigel, pointed out, completed the flavours. Apparently there was always a missing element that was made complete only with a sip of the XO. My unsophisticated palate could of course make no such distinction, and I thought the food tasted remarkable, with or without the XO. But there is no doubting that the XO was remarkable as well.


A rare treat, when we were given the opportunity to savour the smooth delicate moments of the ULTRA LIMITED EDITION HENNESSY X.O. MATHUSALEM, a 6 litre bottle of ultra limited goodness, created by master blender and secret keeper, Yann Filloux. Arnaud here is demonstrating how to use his rod to extract the precious fluids.





Kukomi Intrigue, an umami dish, created from boiled chicken soup, sous vide egg white, foie gras and julienne truffle. I thought the soup itself was a bit on the salty side, but you see, it had to be drunk with the accompanying egg white at the base, completing the flavours. Gold leaf floating on the surface added a nice touch to the already glittering event.





Nigel wastes no time in trying HIS hand at using the rod and poking it into the precious fluid.





Wagyu Wonders, Alvin Leung's specialty of sous vide wagyu striploin, cheung fun and black truffle. The texture of the cheung fun was amazing, springy yet not overly so, and the wagyu was simply sublime. Tender, melt in the mouth but yet with that texture of beef, that doesnt make you feel like you're swallowing pure fat. Lovely.


The very affable Frederic Noyere, playing the perfect host, going from table to table.


Dessert..probably the most daring dish of the night. Named Eastern Ascent, an unforgettable dessert of kikorangi (NZ) blue cheese, milk, cream and dried longan granita. A glamorized leen chee kang, some said. Yeah, this was definitely the most interesting dish, in the sense that it was daring step of faith, intermarrying the intense odor of blue cheese, with a basically pedesterian tong shui. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't my favourite for the night.


Stars of a feather flock together.


An encore dessert, basically a tiramisu with liberal doses of X.O., that wasn't on the menu. I would have preferred it served cold. Ours was at room temperature.


Our Michelin Chef, and rising comic star, Alilfatmonkey.

To read more about Chef Alvin, check out the Hennessy XO website HERE.

This event is on till the 25th of September, but I hear it's been sold out. However, if you feel compelled to attend, perhaps you can contact Adeline Ong of Milk PR at 603-20948915 to see if they still have tickets available.

A special thanks to Milk PR (and the CEO, Wei, for being such a gracious host), and A Whiff of Lemongrass for the invite. It was truly an honor.

Chef Alvin Leung, Molecular Gastronomy Meets Chinese Cuisine

This should excite the food connoiseurs out there. Firstly, let me point you to the website, that requires you to declare you are above 18 years of age, AND, a non-Muslim. Click HERE. Why is that? Well, for starters, the organisers of this event are HENNESSY X.O.

[Excerpts lifted from Presskit]
Themed, APPRECIATION GROWS, this gastronomic event features Chef Alvin Leung, whose revolutionary and award winning fusion of molecular gastronomy (YUP, MOLECULAR GASTRONOMY!) and Chinese Cuisine has created new taste sensations that give diners a unique experience everytime.


His Bo Innovation became Hong Kong's only independent restaurant to be awarded TWO Michelin stars by the prestigious Michelin Guide.

WHERE IS IT HAPPENING?
In a specially constructed dome, built at the Bukit Kiara Equesterian Club, Bukit Kiara.

WHEN?
20th - 25th September, 2010

HOW MUCH?
RM800 per head. I think its net.

MENU
You can view the entire menu on the website, but in case you can't get in because you are under 18 years of age, or alcohol is not allowed in your faith, then to give you some highlights:

Glass Garden - An avant garde HK interpretation of a garden dish, made from baked morel soil, dehydrated enoki, braised caterpillar fungus and green onion puree.

Palate Fantastique - With pan fired foie gras, metilcellulose and xantana.

Wagyu Wonders- An Alvin Leung specialty of sous vide wagyu striploin, cheung fun and black truffle.

You know its exotic when half the words show up as errors on spell check!

For further information, call 03-2178 0230 or log on to the website.

Molecular Gastronomic Dinner By Chef Heiko Antoniewcz

"Taste is the Sum of Quality, Experience and Imagination" - Chef Heiko Antoniewicz

The full title of this post should be, School of Hospitality, Tourism & Culinary Arts (part of KDU) proudly presents .....da da da...

I was delighted when Chef Ryan Khang and the team from My Nourishment magazine invited me to join them in VERY limited places, for the above mentioned dinner. I never knew that within those hallowed halls of KDU, there is also a dining room that's set up restaurant style, for simulated restaurant dining experience, complete with full bar even. As I hesitantly walked through the gates, a group of eager beaver young chefs wannabe chirpily asked, "here for the molecular gastronomy event?", and proceed to guide me to the dining room. The place is decked out like a restaurant, complete with candlelight and centrepiece flowers. Candlelight? In this day and age? In any case, I cant understand why candlelight dinners are considered romantic. It makes for terrible lighting, there's a symbolic fire between you and your loved one, and its a waste of wax. Bring on the bright lights, where one can see what one is eating, and the expressions on your date.

I digress. Yeah, gawd, sometimes I wonder if all chefs are good looking. Life's quite unfair isn't it, they are bestowed with looks and talent. He's also a Michelin Star chef. I think he had links with El Buli, etc.... oh, yeah, this post is just a teaser... as I am supposed to be writing a proper article for MY NOURISHMENT. No free lunch, or dinner, as they say. But worth it.







My Nourishment is obviously involved in a big way, as the chefs even wear their name on their sleeves. Its like wearing your heart on your sleeve huh.



First, the preamble... launching of Chef Heiko's book. The book was encased in an ice sculpture, and the boss of KDU had to chisel at it, to launch it.



One of the best things about this was that we were privvy to the goings on in the kitchen, and were allowed to waltz in and out freely snapping away. Well, it really is a mini hell's kitchen, with the chief chef barking orders etc, minus about 98% of Gordon Ramsay's colorful language.



The one barking wasn't Chef Heiko....he seems like a rather affable sorta chef...even smiles while he works. Having said that, I do not mean it in any derogatory way, about the chief chef barking orders. It is, of course necessary. Gosh, the assembly lines are like with military precision. No wonder you need a Sergeant Major to bark away.



Truth be told, being the culinary plebian that I am, I wasn't entirely sure WHAT all this MOLECULAR stuff was about, and assumed it referred to the serving portions. After all, that looked like a pretty molecular sized piece of salmon, on a rather unmolecular sized plate.



But I was wrong, of course. You can read the proper definition as defined by Wikipedia, here. The portions are far from molecular sized actually, and I was soon to be a convert.

There's a lot of fancy gagdetry and equipment involved, so I guess it's not going to be something you replicate in your kitchen.



I haven't seen a petri dish since my last Chemistry lab class in first year uni, which was ....err....before some food bloggers were born. (1984).





The above stuff was for the starters, which is Lime Infused Smoked Salon in Facets, Green Apple, Celery & Endive. Omigoodness, the flavours!!! I haven't had such a titillating sensation for quite awhile. It was enough to make any flaccid tongue perk up in anticipation.


Our Roast Potatoes as hot pot, parsley. Floating in the soup were also potatoes that had been foamed, and a lovely piece of gelatinous green stuff, err...I forget what now, that had a lovely interesting texture that just stimulates the palate in ways I had never known.



Of course, one was left with eager anticipation to see what these rice filled (beras, not nasi) glasses were for.


More fancy gadgetry, to produce foam.

The Veal Loin and Shank, cooked for 48 hours at 72 degrees, (48/72) was DEEEEEEEEVINE. Well, the loin was anyway. I thought the shank wasn't as nice as the loin. It was served with creamed spinach, and mustard egg. Ah, the mustard egg....a little gobule of taste sensations.... I almost felt like Harry Potter eating those magic sweets, where you don't know what flavour it is, and they pop in your mouth. Of coure, throughout this sublime experience, I was texting Thamby to tell her about it, and all I got in reply was, "I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU". We live n SUCH a hostile world I tell you.

Ah, food wizardry, literally. Making of a raspberry sorbet using liquid nitrogen.... at minus 120C, apparently if you put your finger in the liquid, it'll drop off faster than Bobbit's you know what. What a scary thought. I don't think I'll be stocking any liquid nitrogen at home.... mind you, what a great way to quickly get a cold drink. Or freeze your eggs, cryogenically. Or seed. Or whatever else.



My life is now complete....



Oh, another slogan on the chef's costumes..... looks good....like something from the American Civil War...FOR PRIDE AND HONOR....

We were also given a tour of the new dedicated molecular kitchen in KDU, one of a kind in any culinary school in Asia, and possibly in the world. (I have to check my facts before writing the proper article, but since the readers here...well, are hardddddly sticklers for detail and accuracy, I just whack only)...

A special thanks to:

Chef Ryan Khang, doing a Nigella pose

......and the two pretty sisters from Cooking House and My Nourishment,a nd Chef Kenneth of KDU.