A Journey Of Malaysian Flavour In A Plate

By Nik Nurfaqih Nik Wil KUALA LUMPUR, April 25 (Bernama) -- Behind all those speeches and diplomacy talks by Asean dignitaries converging for the 26th Asean Summit, a full force of the 'Stainless Steel Kitchen' brigade is working its magic on culinary to serve what is called 'a journey of Malaysian flavour in a plate' (left). They will provide services from breakfast to morning coffee break, lunch, tea break and gala dinner. Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre executive chef Richmond Lim said even though food to be served would be of Malaysian taste, it is actually a fusion of ingredients of all 10 Asean members. "This is the challenge, as the host country, we want to reflect our flavour, but at the same time, we would like also to get every Asean country involved in the making, even though its just food," he told Bernama in an interview. Lim took time off his chores to take Bernama to tour his 3,520 square-metre 'playground', showing the state of the art technologies used by his team of 51 skillful chefs. The award-winning chef noted that an incredible amount of 2,000 pax per meal daily are to be prepared from Saturday until the summit ends on Monday, amounting to about a tonne each of rice, chicken, beef and fish. "All these will be prepared by 81 kitchen staff, including 31 kitchen helpers, who are on part-time basis," he said. Not only that, Lim said, with such an event involving a lot of countries, he and his team are also required to pay attention to the special dietary requirements of the delegates and participants. "We have to cater to all these requests and to be sensitive, some are vegan, some have special dietaries like an ova-free food and so on," he added. Nevertheless, Lim who had been working in the hospitality industry for 32 years, pointed out that he and his team are very proud to handle such a big event, what more with Malaysia helming the regional grouping. Asked whether his team is confident of delivering the task, Lim said he is positive that everything is in order and awaiting to be served. The KLCC five-star centre's kitchen or dubbed as the 'Stainless Steel Kitchen' is Lim's award-winning banqueting guidelines book, comprising Chinese, Western, Cold, Pastry and Malay divisions which are certified halal by the Malaysia’s Department of Islamic Development (Jakim). His book titled "Stainless Steel Kitchen", published in 2011, bagged the "Best in the World" award in 2012 at the Paris Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. The Asean Summit starting Sunday, among others, focuses on the progress towards establishing the ASEAN Community by end-2015 and chart the next course of action to propel the regional grouping to greater heights. ASEAN comprises 10 countries, namely Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. --BERNAMA