Malaysian International Gourmet Festival - An amateur's experience

An excerpt from Anton Ego in the cartoon movie Ratatouille:

"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new."

Malaysian International Gourment Festival aka MIGF apparently has been in KL for the last 8 years. But really, it was a passing event every year until one of my friends reminded me that Pinky and I always go and search for nice restaurants to try out whenever we go overseas and yet when MIGF is in town, we never go and try. Hence, this year I decided out of curiosity, go for at least one of the participating restaurants and see what is to be offered on the dining table.

I dunno why we decided on Pacifica at the Mandarin Oriental - I think it was becos Pinky thought that Emmanuel Stroobant would be in the hotel whipping up a storm ; I guess probably this is one restaurant I am quite familiar with arising from business luncheons I had with some of my biz associates, and experiences so far has been pleasing.

Anyway, what I hope to pen down briefly some observations made in our 'inaugaral' experience with MIGF. OK here goes:

Menu

As usual, the menu is filled with language that is alien to local. Langoustine tortelloni, carrot veloute were words used in the menu. But a further check reveals actually these words literally mean the food content. Eg. Tortelloni means a type of stuffed pasta while Langoustine is lobster. Veloute means a type of sauce.

In any case, given that there were two choices in each course, we decided to choose different selection so that we can try everything.

Appetizer

For appetizer, one can actually choose between (a) Langoustine tortelloni White tomato and artichoke or (b) Carrot velouté and passion fruit Black Perigord truffle
I must say both choices were quite unique offering different experiences. The stuffed pasta dish was very well decorated and each content gave different taste experience to wet the appetite, as it contain very wide range of food ie from carbo based stuff like pasta to seafood like lobster. As for the carrot soup, I think this is one that needs an acquired taste. It reminded me of the cappucino soup I was first exposed to many years back, something not expected in a soup ie milky and full of foam. I loved the soup itself as it brings the best out of the carrot taste. However, I wasn't sure how the passion fruit is likely to enhance the taste. I thought being sour does not seem to blend well to the milky taste of the soup.

Main course

For Pinky, she chose pot roasted Angus beef cheeks and grilled tenderloin, cauliflower strudel and roasted sesame glaze. Pinky asked for medium to well done although I advised her perhaps medium would be a better bet for steaks so that it won't be too dry. Anyway, when it came out and after trying it, it really exceeded my expectation as it was very tender and well cooked. Hence to me, the Angus beef dish is rather memorable! On the other hand, my miso glazed ocean trout ,snake beans, risoni noodles, quail egg and anise jus fell below expectation. For a start, the size of ocean trout is way too small. Pacifica is not a French restaurant as far I remembered, but the size of the fish mirrors those of French cuisine. Nice to look at but does not necessarily fulfill the basic objective ! ie a satisfied meal that does not warrant supper later on.

Dessert Gula Melaka toffee parfait coconut crisp and pomegranate aphrodisiac probably was the hightlight of the evening and easily the best dish this round. The Gula Melaka toffee parfait was something I feel is very different from the norm. Besides, it was prepared such that was not 'overly sweet' which more often than not would have 'overkilled' the positive effects of dessert.

Well, in summary, the food in general was interesting judging based on the name of the dishes and of course the decoration. Taste was above average overall falling short of being 'memorable'. I must admit I was slightly disappointed by the quality. Perhaps this was due to the hype created surrounding MIGF, which I thought have raised my expectations.

In any case, we definitely enjoyed the meal and had an excellent Saturday family evening.