THE Malaysian International Gourmet Festival (MIGF) is into its 11th year and this year’s theme is It’s Raining Chefs.
The very first MIGF had only 13 restaurants participating but the number has grown steadily over the years. This year, 28 top restaurants in the country are participating.
MIGF is an integral part of Tourism Malaysia’s Fabulous Food 1Malaysia initiative, which is aimed at promoting the country’s unique food offerings to the world.
During the month-long festival, participating restaurants will come up with special menus to showcase their chefs’ culinary skills and the best of what they can offer.
The restaurants taking part this year include Lai Ching Yuen Chinese Restaurant from Grand Millennium Kuala Lumpur; The Olive and Imperial Rama from Resorts World Genting; Samplings on the Fourteenth from Berjaya Times Square Hotel; and West Lake Garden Chinese restaurant from Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa, among others.
Overseas visitors can enjoy special MIGF Gourmet Tour packages, which are fully supported by the Tourism Ministry. The tour packages, which will be available all year round, offer accommodation and dining with extended stay options.
The grand finale of the festival will be held on Nov 3 at The Sunway Lagoon Surf Beach when awards will be presented to the participating restaurants and master chefs.
The 2011 MIGF held its gala opening recently at the grand ballroom of the Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa. The event was attended by MIGF royal patron Tunku Naquiyuddin Tuanku Jaafar, the Tunku Laksamana Negri Sembilan; Tourism Malaysia Minister Datuk Seri Ng Yen Yen; and MIGF organising chairman Datuk Steve Day.
Dignitaries and food lovers came dressed to the nines, eagerly waiting to see what the participating restaurants had prepared for them. The restaurants had set up booths in the ballroom to showcase what they would be serving during MIGF.
Mouth-watering appetisers, mains and desserts were served in bite-sized portions but they were enough to tantalise even fussy eaters.
Some restaurants went out of their way to create attractive food displays at their booths. The Olive and Imperial Rama opted for modern glass and steel display cases with bite-sized portions of food placed in shot glasses and pretty plates.
Imperial Rama chef Eric Lee Mun Chun also prepared lamb bah kut teh, which is a signature dish at his restaurant situated at Highlands Hotel in Genting Highlands.
The West Lake Garden Chinese restaurant went with a bamboo forest theme with giant dim sum steamers, water features and even dry ice to provide some “atmosphere”.
At Samplings on the Fourteenth booth, we met chef Valmurugan Subramaniam, who has been taking part in MIGF for the past 10 years while working for different restaurants.
His was the only booth which not only had sample portions for guests but also a display showing the actual portion size.
“It took me 10 days to come up with this menu. I needed to create something special,” said Valmurugan who specialises in western cuisine. His MIGF menu includes roasted baby veal rack and Cajun spiced cod for mains, with appetisers such as seared foie gras, tomato and onion tart and US scallops with yellow mushrooms and chive salad.
He plans to add these items to the restaurant’s a la carte menu this year.Samplings is used by Berjaya University Co
llege of Hospitality to train its culinary arts students in fine-dining.
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