Epicure Malaysia 2011

Last weekend Epicure Malaysia, the nation's leading anual lifestyle fair, was taken place at Sime Darby Convention Centre, it was an 3 days event from the 16 to 18 September. There were so many interesting, fun and exciting activities for anyone from all ages but sadly this event didnt get much crowd which was also a good thing as we can get more front row seats for the workshops and we didnt have to fight for all the food tastings :D Some of the pictures from the exhibition for now as the workshops posts and pictures will be updated soon.

KitchenAid was the first booth you will see when you enter this exhibition this year. Sadly it was the company dealing with only home series which i would highly recommend getting the professional series even you are a home baker unless you really like some fancy and colourful kitchenaids. 

The really interesting product i saw was Jamie Oliver's products. Meatworks is importing in Jamie Oliver's range of products such as pastas, pasta sauces, premix seasonings and premix spices. 

Sadly there were no Jamie Oliver Flavour Shaker, which i would be looking forward to buy. I approached the person in charge and ask about the flavour shaker, and apparently their company is trying to bring in all the Jamie Oliver products, Kudos!  

Lovely decorated cakes from Sugarflours, and the one which caught everyones attention was Angry Birds :D

Sugarflours also did cooking workshops and even in the booth demo to show the public that cake decorations isnt so hard to master after all. I do hope it was so easy thou! 

Yosh Food was there too. They were promoting their off the shelf products and their new restaurants. 

One of their new restaurants is Impromptu at Menara Hup Seng, apparently they serve fusion home made pastas. Interesting? You decide.

My favourite Victoria Crest product i tried was the Lamb & Cranberry. It might sound a little dodgy but its certainly something uniquely special with lots of meat flavours and its 98% fat free! .

Curry in the Hurry was there to promote its catering services too :)

Spanish Passion was there to promote their cheese, wine and etc. The cheese was certainly cheesy as there were so many to try and so many varieties of cheese they import in.

The mild Cheddar was my favourite liking :D After trying so many cheese, i became a little cheesy too xD

There were many off the shelf products that were not usually seen in the usual local supermarkets.

Some beers to cool and digest off the food we tasted. :)

The equipment which really caught my eye was the popcorn machine, too bad i was on a budget that day! 

Besides food products, there were also premium shisha/hookah flavours were for sale too. 

and cigars for the rich and famous?

The Lebensstil product which caught everyones attention was the dishwasher because everyone would love not to wash their own plates after a busy time cooking up their dishes. hah.. i wish i have this at home too! 

This is an annual leading lifestyle fair which has something for everyone from all ages. Its free admission and also free parking, so make sure you mark your calenders for the next one happening next year! 

Click Here for Epicure Malaysia 2011 Exhibition Click Here for Epicure Malaysia 2011 Workshop Day 1Click Here for Epicure Malaysia 2011 Cooking Classes Day 2 & 3Click Here for Special Appearance of Chef Wan at Epicure Malaysia 2011

Table of Four - Umami

Me and Kevin got so obsessed about an Umami based theme, we started planning our menu. A 3 course menu was done in ideas and paperwork. All we needed was guests to fill up the seats and help us with the preparations and also cleaning up the dishes :P


First course was my Deep Fried Kailan Soup with lots of ingredients(as you can see! lol)
We were really greedy and wanted almost everything in the soup, so...
we added meatballs, toufu, dried anchovies(ikan bilis), wolfberry(goji berry) and even wolfberry foam!
Thats what happens when you have lots of chefs in the kitchen.

We were really suprised and happy at the same time as the wolfberry foam was actually stable enough to be foam up. This time rather than deep frying the kailan, i actually toasted it with little oil, it tasted so much less oily than the first trial i did. The Umami tasted really mild and light which is just right for the first course to bring up the Umami intensity.


Dried Scallop and Mushroom Risotto is Chef Kevin's idea with the concept that came from the original umami profile, dashi. After stir frying the garlic, onion and mushroom, Hua Tiao rice wine was added before the dried scallop stock.

The flavour in this dish was really one of a kind. Definately Umami i must say! The Hua Tiao rice wine intensify and stimulated our appetite and palate for more. Craving for this now while writing this blogpost!

Last but not least was, Pan Seared Snapper with Braised Chinese Mushrooms served with Dashi. Chef Kevin was inspired by a dish in Top Chef season 5, Eric Repert's Sourdough Crusted Snapper with Tomato Basil Consommé. He used the same concept but twisted it since we were doing an Umami theme set
This Dashi reduction was made with kombu and also braising the pre soaked mushrooms into the dashi. The fish was a frozen snapper which was pan fried with basic seasoning to upkeep the Umami flavours as the only main flavour to be focused on . 
Maybe the Risotto dish should be the last dish as it was the most highest intensity level of Umami among all 3 dishes. Overall was a great simple 3 course theme set which we all had nothing much to complain about but just enjoy our foodie session with great company and conversations :D

And for those who do not have an idea what kombu(scored) is, this is it :)

Click Here for Rebecca's Table of Four - Part IIClick Here for Rebecca's Table of Four - Part IIIClick Here for Rebecca's Table of Four - Part IV

Coffee Experience Workshop at Universita del caffe della Malesia

My friend was one of the few lucky winners for Illy's Coffee Experience workshop through Timeout KL's tweeter contest. He invited me to tag along for the workshop without much hesitation. It was held at Universita del caffe della Malesia which i later found out it is a school which offers variety of coffee courses to explore or even be a master barista.

We all learned how a prefect espresso and cappuccino are done, what is the most suitable ingredients to use,the difference of coffee beans, how to enjoy a cup of coffee and the most interesting of all, be able to make our own cappuccino.

The different types of coffee beans

One of the most important note for all coffee lovers is to remember not to buy coffee in powdered form because aromas only last a few minutes in powdered form.

Besides that, we also learned how to differentiate a perfect espresso

The variety of equipments they have at the school

Breaking down every important component of a coffee machine

The master barista of the day, teaching us how to make a cup of perfect cappuccino and also demonstrating the amazing coffee arts which can be done in a few minutes and i can bet he will win any girls attention serving these coffees.

And the most highlighted coffee art of all,

Angry Birds!

Universita del caffe is around the world to educate the world about coffees

A big thank you to my friend, Jovi for the invitation to this workshop, Timeout KL for organizing this and Universita del caffe della Malesia for teaching us all the knowledge they can.

More pictures available on CCC's facebook page

Illy (Dr. Ernest Illy) invented the first automatic espresso machine.