NEW MALAYSIAN RESTAURANT MAKES A SPLASH IN NEW YORK'S GASTRONOMIC CIRCLES

By Manik Mehta

NEW YORK, Oct 20 (Bernama) -- A new Malaysian restaurant, whose owners claim serves "100 percent authentic Malaysian food", had its grand opening on
Saturday in New York with a large turnout of Malaysian and non-Malaysian
guests specially invited for the occasion.

The restaurant, "Laut" (Sea in the Malay language), was actually opened
about five months back but the husband-wife owners, Michael and Kathy Bong, had
waited for an "opportune time" to hold the grand opening.

"There are quite a few Malaysian restaurants in New York but they generally
serve a diluted variety of Malaysian cuisine suited to American taste buds. We
shall endeavour to serve authentic Malaysian food because we have ascertained
through years of experience in the restaurant business that Americans are open
to new dishes and tastes," Michael Bong told Bernama at his new restaurant
located in Manhattan's chic neighbourhood on the 17th Street between the 5th
Avenue and Broadway.

"Laut" will, in fact, coexist with Bong's other highly successful
gastronomic venture called "Miso" which specialises in Japanese cuisine. After
the success of "Miso", Bong had a strong desire to offer good-quality
Malaysian food in a setting replicating Malaysia's culture and
landscape.

"Laut" has an ambience that depicts prominent Malaysian landmarks,
including mosques, palm trees and pristine beaches.


Both Michael and Kathy Bong, elated by the overwhelming response from
customers, said that they were "on top of the world".

"It has taken us almost two years, right from the conception to today's
grand opening, for the restaurant to take shape as we had envisaged," Michael
Bong recalled.

Asked why he thought of starting a Malaysian restaurant, he said being a
Malaysian, he wanted to introduce Malaysian food to Americans.

"I like to take up challenges and introducing Malaysian cuisine to
Americans was for me a challenge. Since we started this restaurant, we have
captured interest from American customers in dishes such as sambal, Malaysian
dry curry and char kueh teow (Malaysian fried flat noodles).

"We know Americans love these dishes because we see they repeatedly come
for them. Besides Americans, we also have a large base of Asian customers," he
added.


At the grand opening, where a variety of food was served, one could
observe the American guests helping themselves generously to "kari ikan kering"
(salmon dry curry), "nasi goreng" (fried rice) and "beef rendang", a spicy
coconut-flavoured dish.

The guests who kept pouring into the premises of "Laut" included Americans,
Thais, Filipinos, Indonesians and Hong Kong Chinese. The Malaysian permanent
representative to the United Nations, Hamidon Ali, and his wife Amy
were the guests-of-honour. Also present were heads of other Malaysian agencies
based in New York.

The Bongs, who hope to develop a chain of restaurants in the future, are
also socially involved and have been helping out at Malaysian cultural events in
New York. "This is my way of giving back to Malaysia," Michael Bong
explained.

-- BERNAMA