Malaysia International Gourmet Festival 2013

The 13th Malaysia International Gourmet Festival was launched today at Sunway Pyramid by MIGF’s Organising Chairman, YBhg Dato’ Steve Day and Royal Patron of MIGF, YAM Tunku Laxamana Tunku Dato’ Seri Utama Naquiyuddin Tuanku Jaafar.

All through October, 31 of the country’s best restaurants will serve up special Festival Menus at special Festival prices together with a host of generous Festival offers as they follow the Festival theme: “Cool Chefs: Cooking With Attitude!” The Festival is an integral part of Tourism Malaysia’s “Fabulous Food 1Malaysia” initiative which promotes the country’s unique, multicultural, food capabilities to the world.

The special Festival preview event – Taste MIGF – will take place from the 6th to 8th September 2013 at the Sunway Pyramid Convention Centre. At Taste MIGF, food lovers can get a preview of things to come by exchanging Taste Tokens for bite sized samples from the Festival restaurants as they gather in one specially created location – The Theatre of Cuisines. With the Taste Tokens, gourmands can enjoy a “Super Gourmet Safari”, sampling creations from Malaysia’s leading chefs as they serve up tasting portions from their Festival Menus. These special portions are big enough to exhibit the creativity of the Festival chefs but small enough to allow you to taste as many dishes from as many restaurants as possible.

Live music and cooking demonstrations take place, providing a fiesta-like atmosphere for all visitors. The Theatre of Cuisines will open for a fabulous gourmet weekend – from 11.00am to 11.00pm on Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th September. They can also shop at the Epicure Gourmet Village and attend Master Chefs’ cooking classes and enjoy wine appreciation talks and other culinary happenings. Taste Tokens will be available for purchase on the day of the event itself; however, you can avoid valuable time on that day and enjoy a 5% discount if you pre-purchase Taste Tokens on www.tastemigf.com.

In the Festival line up for MIGF 2013 are regulars such as The Westin Kuala Lumpur’s popular Italian eatery, ”Prego”, Shangri-La KL’s renowned French restaurant “Lafite”, The Royale Chulan KL’s, “Bunga Emas” serving Malaysian favourites, and The Renaissance KL Hotel’s top Chinese restaurant, “Dynasty”. Making a comeback to the Festival are Mariott Putrajaya’s Midori Japanese Restaurant and Tuscany Italian Restaurant, as well as The Westin Langkawi’s Seasonal Tastes, adding more weight to the Starwood Hotel Group which include The Westin Kuala Lumpur and Aloft KL Sentral.

French restaurant, “Cuisine Gourmet by Nathalie” and the Italian “Nerovivo” lead a collection of exciting non-hotel based restaurants. The newly-opened “TEN Japanese Restaurant” makes its much awaited debut and is joined in the Festival by the impressive “Marini’s On 57” located high on the prestigious Petronas Tower of KLCC; “Kiraku”, a Japanese Restaurant, which lays claim to being the largest teppanyaki venue in the country also makes its debut as does “Tanzini” of GTower, Malaysia’s first green building. The full list of participating restaurants can be found on the Festival website, www.migf.com.

Chef Nathalie of Nathalie’s Gourmet Studio is one of the chefs participating in MIGF 2013.

Her creation looks superb – Slowly Cooked King Fish in an Orange Transparency, Citrus “Escabeche”, Wild Peach Purée. How I wish I could sample it but it’s strictly look only at today’s launch, no sampling or touching. Can’t wait for Taste MIGF.