What's Cooking, Chef Wan?

If you grew up in the late 80s or 90s like me, chances are, you grew up watching Chef Wan. Who else remembers plonking themselves before the television at 1pm on weekdays (or was it just me?) to watch him whip up delicious-looking local cuisines peppered with his unique and bubbly personality. As cooking shows come and go, Datuk Chef Wan is our very own chef personality that made a name for himself that actually stuck through the years. Even until now, he is still very much in demand. Recently, he was in town at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel as part of his cooking tour to promote the best of his versions of the Malaysian cuisine and I jumped at the chance to attend! It was actually my colleague Kathleen's assignment to cover him and though I was on leave to complete my university papers, I did some turbo typing to complete the 2,500-word essays just to go out that evening. Talk about determination. And boy, was it worth it!

I was kinda starstrucked seeing him before my eyes (imagine what it would be like seeing Jamie Oliver). How he is on the telly, how he is in person! Every the bubbly and funny guy, it was a nice surprise to see that he made sure to say hello and shook hands with everybody in the room. Even after he started his cooking demonstrations and some of the audience came in late, he made it a point to say hi and even snapped photos of the guests haha! He cooked 3 dishes: Kari Laksa Bibik Neo, Nasi Ulam Diraja and Ayam Panggang Madura.

Here we were all complaining of hunger and he cheekily grabbed a cloth and fanned more of the smoke our way. "Ha, lapar? Nahhh bagi you all!"


Ayam Panggang Madura. Tastes like yam perk but 26x better.


Nasi Ulam Diraja

All I can say is, the moment the mixture of spices hit the wok, the room was instantly filled with wafts of hunger-inducing fragrance. He shared nostalgic snippets of his childhood, growing up with baba-nyonya heritage and his journey as a chef in Malaysia and abroad over the years. After a good few hours, the food was ready and my, oh my the smell was just crazy. After the demonstration, while all the excited (and I mean super excited) makciks and kakaks rushed to snap photos with the chef, Kathleen and I headed straight to the food for a sample. BOY WAS IT DELICIOUS. Probably because we were all starving by then but I mean, I knew it was going to be delicious, but whoa it was so delicious. Totally didn't take photos of the laksa because it was gobbled up before I even had the chance to do so!

In the end we managed to sneak a photo with him, even got a selfie out of it! The hotel instantly printed out the photos for us, which we got him to sign! Now it's attached to my fridge whee!

I feel that he is such an accommodating person, honestly. Because one of the many kakaks AKA Super Fan, took group photos with him, single-person shots and then whipped out a friggin monopod for selfies. A smiling and joking Chef Wan was a good sport throughout and just layan je. I guess he is used to all the attention after countless shows and interaction with these women over the years right? Later, he even uploaded a photo with me and Kathleen in it on his Instagram (ma, I made it lol)!

He was very chatty throughout the whole event as he is on his shows and watching his antics while he cooked was a joy. He had the room in stitches the moment he came in, right until the end, and more. Despite his obligations, he sat down for some Q & As with us reporters and he gave us all the answers that we didn't even need to ask questions for. :D Definitely an event to remember.

And just because I am missing his nasi ulam so badly today, here's a photo of him tasting the food before serving.. as he should.

Signed,
Your Super Fan.
♥

Eating Ipoh

"Food is a way of connecting people and with the local culture" - Dec 1, 2014

taufu fah/soya bean drink delivered to your car | mee kicap + kee kari Mat Jasak | Ipoh Hainanese Chicken Rice + fried tauhu + taugeh | fruit + ice cream bowl at Tong Sui Kai | coffee to cap off the night | white coffee at Sin Yoon Loong kopitiam | Simee Market scene | to search for the best egg tarts | New Holly Wood restaurant breakfast for 2 | Lou Wong taugeh chicken for lunch | how can we leave without trying the Nasi Ganja from Yong Suan?

I've been going on and on throughout this year about how I want to have breakfast in Ipoh. We were in KL for the Mogwai show that week and then a wild idea came about during lunch before we were supposed to head back home that afternoon - that if we don't do it now, when will we ever drive 7 hours to Ipoh from JB? Set. The next thing we knew, we were on this gastronomic adventure to try as much as we can in that packed 1 and half days. Even managed to throw in a visit to the Ipoh railway station and the main post office. Bliss.


♥

Stand Still, Will You?

Back at Esplanade, Singapore again. Apparently I don't stand still in photos hahaha. 

Never been one who likes wearing boots but maybe cos I never found a nice pair.. so in love with these boots, my first pair!

♥

Penang Snapshots

Mom and I went on a short Penang trip over last weekend, just to enjoy some delicious food. She wasn't really interested in the sights and only had one thing in mind.. Food food food! We basically had char kuay teow everyday the three days we were there and at any chance we can get it. The most fun was after we checked out and had about nine hours to kill before our flight so we took the bus from the hotel to the Kek Lok Si Temple near Air Itam, walked around and ate lots of food and bought her favourite biscuits and took the bus ride back to the hotel to get our bags. She wanted food, she gets food. Because she deserves so much more than this. But for now, this is all I can give her.

Happy advanced Mother's Day, mom. You mean the world to me.

♥

"W" Espresso Sporting Club

Taking a short break from studying for semester finals (I have my last paper for the semester tomorrow) so I thought I'd do a post about a new cafe that recently opened up in the Danga Bay area.

The "W" Espresso Sporting Club is from the same people who brought you Monsta Cafe in Taman Bukit Indah. The second and new branch has a totally different concept and feel than the former. I personally love the name because anything with three words in its title just sounds classy. For example: the Social Book Club or the Blue Pelican House. Yep I totally just made those names up. Anyways, this new joint has a rustic, sort-of no frills, organic feel to it. I can't quite put my finger on one adjective but one thing is for sure.. It's as hipster as hipster can be. Monsta Cafe has a relaxed vibe to it but "W" is more polished and sophisticated.

One of the co-owner Yuan Feng, is a 25 year-old business graduate from London, who runs the show at the cafe. He is also one of the well-known award-winning baristas around and it shows in his work. Chatting with him shows that he is intense in his vision and he's serious about what he does. He and his team drew up the whole concept of the outlet, located within the Country Garden Danga Bay commercial row.

I was lucky enough to have a mutual friend invite me over for a food-sharing session with a few other bloggers on the outlet's first day of operations recently. The food was prepared by their chef who has experience working at the Fullerton Hotel, Singapore and drinks brewed by Yuan Feng himself.

A notable effort will be their 32-page menu printed on good quality paper, which resembles a magazine. He said that it took them five months to conceptualise, take photos and produce the menu and customers are allowed to take them home because it offers more than just a list of food and drinks. It includes short write ups and interesting illustrations and the edition changes from time-to-time.

A quick look of how Monsta Cafe looks like before we move on to the new branch.




Hello distorted coffee art.

From the opening:













Yuan Feng at work.






Started with coffee demonstrations first.




Our table.










Mushroom soup. I love the surprise raviolis hidden in the soup because a blast of flavours just bursts into your mouth when you chew into it - a welcomed contrast against the smooth mushroom soup.


Canapes.


Exotic fruit and shrimp salad. Refreshing and crunchy!






Grilled chicken on a bed of yam mash. Such a beautiful shade of purple! We were served another version on potato mash as well.


Mom's Topshop basic black top; Cotton On skirt; Marie Claire wedges

There were two more dishes but I had to leave before they were served so these are all the food pictures I have. I must say that the food is flavourful and fresh from what we usually have at these type of cafes. But I should also note that I would have preferred the mushroom soup to have more texture instead of blended like it was served that night. It was a little too smooth for me as I prefer to have bits and pieces of mushroom I can chew on. But overall, it was a good experience.

The cafe kind of clinched it for me when I heard them playing The XX on vinyl in the background. Talk about taste! The "W" people really know what they're doing. So if you're up for a relaxed night out or just want to sit by yourself in the corner typing away on your laptop (sort of what I have been doing lately), this might be the place for you.

A memorable quote from Yuan Feng, "People no longer want to just pay for food and drinks, you can get that everywhere. What people want is the experience, to stand out. So we're not just selling food and beverages, we're selling an experience."

♥