Travel Media Escape @ KEJORA from a foodie perspective – Part One

By Laura Lee

A group photo at Matic Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur before our departure to Desaru, Johor on 26 March 

My three-day trip to the southeast parts of Johor covering its eco-tourism products in Bandar Penawar, Desaru, Tanjung Balau, Tanjung Sedili, Teluk Sengat and Johor Lama turned out to be like most media familiarisation (fam) trips. It was filled with lots of wonderful food experiences throughout the three days.

Upon arrival at our first stop at Teratak Penawar in Bandar Penawar, Kota Tinggi, we were greeted by the local boys playing kompang and ushered to have our lunch at the bottom open section of this elevated traditional Malay house which operates as a farmstay.

The nasi ambeng laid out on the enamel trays were placed on the mengkuang or weaved screwpine leaves floor mats.
Since each tray has four sets of rice, we were eating in groups of three or four with our hands dishes such as chicken, fried bee hoon or rice noodles and serunding, the Malay version of our Chinese meat floss except that theirs is spicier.

Sharing the nasi ambeng with Nurul and her husband Kamarul Mansor from Malaysianews TV, who was busy taking video

While we ate, we were entertained with melodious numbers played by a live band comprising young men and a female member.

Datuk Azlie Halim flanked by tow of the participants from Batam

After our meal, to cuci mulut, we were served sliced oranges and locally grown rock melons.

We could see from atop Teratak Penawar the greenhouses belonging to Taman Fertigasi KEJORA (TFK) where jade and rock melons are grown and harvested. These melons are graded and packed at a store near TFK's entrance.

According to South East Johore Development Authority or KEJORA website, TFK was established in 2012 with agrotourism in mind. It uses the fertigation system whereby water and fertilisers are applied simultaneously via an irrigation system.

This system can produce about 1.5 tonnes of jade melons from 2,280 crops in two months. Alas, there weren’t any jade melons during our visit. Only rock melons with their orange sweet and juicy flesh.

The staff cut some for us to taste. They were juicy and sweet, which encouraged me to get one.

Just because mine had a tiny scar, its price was knocked down from RM7 a kg for top grade to RM5 per kg. I happily paid RM10 for my two kg rock melon.

Since I have covered it the review on my dinner at Els Club on my Facebook during the trip, I will skip it here. If you are wondering what was my verdict, I gave it a thumbs up.  

The next morning when we were back at this golf clubhouse for the Ocean Course for a briefing on the projects undertaken by Desaru Development Holdings Sdn Bhd at Desaru Coast, I looked out for its chef.

Shaiful Lizam, its Chef de Cuisine gave credit to his team as well but revealed that his secret lies in using fresh ingredients and preparing the food three to four hours before our dinner.

It’s Dragon Fruit Festival @ Sepang in May!

By Laura Lee

The Dragon Fruit Festival @ Sepang, one of the major annual events in Selangor, is held this year in May but it will be on in June for 2020 and 2021. I just love this fruit, especially when made into a fresh juice and recently discovered that there’s more ways to eat and cook with this fruit.

Ahead of Visit Sepang Year or Tahun Melawat Sepang (TMS) 2020 which was soft launched at the recent ITB show in Berlin, Tourism Selangor jointly organised with Movenpick Hotel and Convention Centre KLIA a two-day/one-night media trip from 9-10 April 2019 to visit some of its attractions here. 

Among them was a visit to the HL Restaurant & Café, whose operators are also involved in HL Nursery Trading and HL Dragon Fruit Supply. 

They wowed us with their food and beverage presentation first, fed us with good local dishes whipped up by their Indonesian staff before they took us on a walking tour of its HL Farm planted of course with dragon fruits.

Upon arrival at its restaurant, we were served its Lokal dragon fruit juice, a must try “smouldering” beverage using dry ice to create the effect. 

Our cameras and handphones continued to flash and click as its Sepang HL Jumbo Buns were brought out for photography and sample tasting. I tried only a morsel of it as everyone was milling around it.

Surprise, surprise! We were given one each to take home when we left the place. 

Although there was a halal certification placed outside the glass shelves where these buns are placed to say that the chicken used for the curry are certified halal, I learnt recently from one of my Malay travel mates that she was wary to taking this delicious bun made of dragon fruit which is filled inside with chicken curry as it was prepared by Indonesians.

I would gladly have taken hers home if I had known that day. We were advised to eat the bun immediately that day itself and at best not later than the next day.

It’s a huge bun and we have been stuffing ourselves during this trip, including our last stop at Mitsui Outlet Park's LeTen, a Chinese Muslim Restaurant that serves Asian cuisine, including dim sum. I just couldn’t take it for dinner when we returned home. 

We ate my colleague’s jumbo bun first the next day in the office and kept mine in the fridge for almost a week. After steaming it, mine was as good as newly prepared. Love its spicy curry where you can dip the bun into it. The bun is pinkish hue due to the dark red colour of the dragon fruit used.

How the bun looks like when it's opened and how our dragon fruit juice is topped with an appetising dragon fruit salad 

After our delicious lunch at the restaurant, which I had posted earlier in my Facebook, we walked around its farm, where they had a close-up building that houses swiftlets inside. That’s to produce bird’s nest, and another story.

Owing to the farm’s proximity to the KL International Airport, we could see airplanes flying above us every now and then. 

Noted for their anti-oxidant properties and a good source of vitamins C and E, the dragon fruits with the red flesh variety grown here are exported to Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong. The red variety is more expensive and sweeter than the white variety. 

Just outside the farm is a stall that sells these fruits to the public according to their grades and sizes.

We bought two higher grades ones at RM7 each but forgot to remove them from the plastic bag due to our hectic schedule. One of them spoiled after a few days. It’s a safer bet to keep them in your fridge.

Durian feast at Tonka Bean Café and Deli's Selera Serantau Ramadan preview

By Laura Lee

What I enjoyed most at my recent Ramadan preview at Impiana KLCC Hotel was the durian “fiesta” held outside of its Tonka Bean Café and Deli. The hotel is one of the few that serves durian as part of its “berbuka puasa” offerings, and theirs are good durians from Raub, Pahang. 

Its staff can’t open them fast enough for us to taste. We could only get two or three pieces to be fair to the rest but there’s no stopping you going for a second or third round if you care to queue for it.  

Small round table stands are placed outside for you to put your platter of durian and have a tete-a-tete with those who enjoy durians and are willing to share their varieties with you as some come bitter sweet and others real creamy. 

If you are thinking of coming just to whack durians, forget about it as I overhead a staff saying durians will be served from 8pm although its Selera Serantau Ramadan buffet dinner starts at 6.30pm. 

As you enter this open-air section you, the fruits are attractively placed here. Mangosteens are available too. They are supposed to be “cooling” after eating all those heaty durians.

One of the highlights of the buffet spread at Tonka Bean Café and Deli at all times is its vast variety of Baskin Robbins ice cream. I certainly had to squeeze some room for it despite taking so much durian that night.

One of the chef’s signature dishes is Sup Gearbox Meletup!, which I refrained from having it that night after taking so much durian. I certainly did not want to meletup or explode and raise my blood pressure. 

I could see the couple at my table enjoying this soup, sucking out the bone marrow from those huge joints with the plastic straw. Don’t worry if you think this dish finishes fast as I could see the chefs replenishing it.

Other signature dishes not to missed are its Kari Kepala Ikan Selatan and Nasi Briyani Gam Kambing Istimewa. For those who know how to enjoy the former, some of them like to go for the cheek of the fish head where the flesh is smoother while others would even go for its eyes.  

With over 200 specially prepared traditional local favourites to choose from amidst the soothing sounds of a live traditional ghazal performance, it’s not an easy choice to make what to try. 

This whole marinated roast lamb is one of its highlights

Anyway, you have until 10 pm to savour the widespread offerings from its Ocean Treasures counter to its dedicated counters for Western and Chinese cuisine, and live stations.

The hotel is starting its Ramadan promotion from 5 May to 4 June and pricing it at RM148⁺ per adult or RM74⁺ per child. For those who missed its 30% early bird discount, there is still its 25% early bird discount which is valid until 4 May.

The discount reduces to 20% during the first and last week of Ramadan from 5-9 May and 30 May-4 June respectively. For group bookings, there’s the “Buy 10 Free 1” offer from 10-29 May.

Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre’s Employee Enrichment Programme Partners and Ramadan Rhapsody

By Laura Lee

C&G signatory for the MoU was represented by its Head of Sales for East Asia, Victoria Horrox while the Convention Centre was represented by Pyor, who also exchanged some documents with GO1 Partner Activation Manager Aizat Hashim

The Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre has partnered with United Kingdom's City & Guilds (C&G) to launch a ‘Competent F&B Specialist In Business Events Industry’ training initiative, which will not only provide global recognition for its in-house training programmes but also take its talent development to another level.

At the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony held at its venue on 21 March 2019, 10 of its in-house trainers received their appointment letters from C&G, which will enable them to start their training sessions.

Thumbs up from Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre General Manager Alan Pryor and its in-house trainers, including Vickneswaran (fourth from left) with their C&G appointment letters 

Kudos go to the convention centre’s human resources team for securing this collaboration with C&G, which has given over 500 work-based qualifications through 8,500 colleges and training providers in 81 countries worldwide. 

Its Director of Human Resources Muhammad Vickneswaran Abdullah said phase one of this training initiative, expected to kick off in May, will cover culinary, beverage, food safety, people management and banqueting skills. 

Its phase two module will be more venue-centric, focusing on event coordination, audio-visual and information technology-related competencies, meeting designs and set-up. It will be rolled out by mid-2020. 

“This will be offered to industry players and stakeholders as part of our contribution to the overall development and enhancement of the Malaysian hospitality and business events industry,” Vickneswaran added.

At the same event, the convention centre also unveiled its new learning management system, EduClick, developed in collaboration with GO1 Learning (M) Sdn Bhd, a leader in online learning and education.  

EduClick will provide employees with opportunities and flexibility to grow and enhance their skills via an ‘on-the-go learning’ platform where 60% of it will be conducted online while the rest will be practical.  

So far, over 100 employees have registered for its first round, Vickneswaran remarked.

                                    Ramadan Rhapsody

The dessert section

On a lighter note, I was back to the Convention Centre the following week for its Ramadan preview and was impressed by how it has maintained the quality of its sumptuous and extensive contemporary and international spread. 

It has also come out with new offerings such as ocean prawns topped with the durian, not the fresh fruits though.  

I love its new beverage, salted caramel teh tarik which was frothy as its staff had “pulled” it well and after going for a few rounds of buka puasa previews, its famous roasted Harissa whole lamb was attractively decorated to catch your attention. I had a few slices of it served with rosemary sauce.

A wide variety of sauces and condiments to go with the roast lamb

I was more than happy when I could lay my hands on my old favourites like its deep fried cempedak and was recommended by others at the preview to try its apam topped with durian puree.     

On the far right is its ocean prawns topped with durian sauce. I also tried its sliced fried lekor and goreng pisang.

As a business event venue, the Convention Centre also has a corporate buka puasa promotion for 100 persons and above throughout Ramadan from RM128 nett a person apart from its promotion for the public which is tagged at RM150 nett per person. 

Companies taking up its corporate buka puasa promotion have the option to personalise them with various Chef Action Station’s add-ons. 

Reservations are required for corporate events. For more information on its corporate buka puasa enquiries or bookings, call +603-2333 2877 or visit www.klccconventioncentre.com.

Desaru Coast Destination Resort: Update on its hotels and resorts

By Laura Lee

The Westin Desaru Coast Resort (TWDCR), comprising 275 rooms, initially targeted to open in mid-2018, has finally soft opened on 2 April 2019.

Operated by Marriott International, the five-star resort is adjoined the Desaru Coast Conference Centre which can accommodate up to 1,000 persons for corporate functions, meetings, exhibitions and entertainment events.
                                                                                           

Roslina Arbak, Chief Executive Officer of Desaru Development Holdings One Sdn Bhd (DH1), the master developer of Desaru Coast said TWDCR's room configuration would be different compared to Hard Rock Hotel (HRH) Desaru Coast, one of the hotels and resorts under its portfolio.

DHI is a subsidiary of Desaru Development Corporation Sdn Bhd, which comes within Themed Attractions Resorts &Hotels Sdn Bhd’s (TAR&H) group of companies. 

Established by the government’s strategic investment fund, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, TAR&H, an investment holding company has served as a catalyst for the leisure and tourism industry by bringing premier world-class hotels, resorts, golf courses and attractions into Malaysia.

Roslina told participants of the Travel Media Escape @ Kejora and key industry players of South East Johore Development Authority or KEJORA at the networking dinner on 26 March 2019 that this was to ensure that DH1 does not compete for the same type of hotel guests.

                                           

Meanwhile, the 365-room HRH had officially opened its door for business during the last quarter of 2018 with only 164 rooms. Managed by Hard Rock International, its accommodation ranges from studio suites, Rock Royalty Suites to a Rock Star Suite.
                                                                      

              

So far, the hotel’s occupancy has been “healthy with most weekends full”, its director of marketing communcations Grace Chiam responded. 

Coming up next Anantara Desaru Coast Resort & Villas

Other hotels and resorts included in this multi-billion-dollar integrated destination resort are Anantara Desaru Coast Resort & Villas and One&Only Desaru Coast.  

According to Roslina, the former, which comes under Anantara’s international chain of hotels and resorts, will be opened by the third quarter of 2019.  

It will be a 123-key luxury family-oriented resort with direct access to the beach and within close proximity to the retail village Desaru Coast Riverside and the world-class The Els Club Desaru Coast - Ocean Course, a 27-hole golf course designed by four-time major champion Ernie Els.
                                                                            

Dazs Donuts and Coffee, one of the eateries at Desaru Coast Riverside

Meanwhile, the 128-acre One & Only Desaru Coast beachfront development will be an exclusive branded luxury resort comprising 42 suites, two luxury suites and an exclusive four-bedroom villa.

There will also be about 50 One&Only private homes for sale with a view of the South China Sea.  

Accessibility

To improve accessibility to this newly curated premium destination resort, Roslina said a ferry terminal, which includes a Customs, Immigration and Quarantine complex, is being built to provide direct ferry access from the Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal, Singapore into Desaru Coast.

This new entry point, which will be operational by end-2020, also includes approved connectivity into Indonesia, possibly Bintan Island and Batam, she added. 

Currently, the access by sea is via Singapore’s Changi Ferry Terminal to Tanjung Belungkor. Following this 30-minute ferry ride is another 30-minute drive to Desaru Coast. 

Besides sea, Desaru can also be accessed by air and road. Those arriving at Senai International Airport, Roslina said shuttle services are available at 9am and 2pm. They will be adjusted and increased to support the flights’ timing.

For more information on getting here, visit its website, www.desarucoast.com.

I'm for Chinese New Year meals served banquet style

by Laura Lee

CNY selections from Impiana KLCC Hotel 

Say whatever you like, I am still very much a traditionalist. I prefer to have meals with my family members and relatives during Chinese New Year (CNY) ordered from the a la carte or set menu rather than going for a buffet spread.

Also, I find this to be more intimate as we can sit around the table, catch up with one another and toss yee sang together from a big plate with the condiments prepared by the staff. All we have to do is just Huat! Huat! Huat! 

Eating out on the first day of CNY at Restoran Yin Her in Kampung Baru Sungai Buloh, Selangor with my relatives for a nine-course lunch set

With all the eating sessions during CNY, I find Impiana KLCC Hotel's Fusion Chinese Specialty Menu promotion at Cedar on 15 from 15-19 February quite appealing as you can opt for four or six-course fusion Chinese dishes with a small group of friends.

Better still if they are drinking kaki as the price is inclusive of free flow of wine or aerated drinks throughout your dining period. You can opt for the noon to 2pm or the 6pm to 9.30pm. It’s RM188 nett per person for a four-course meal or RM288 nett a person for a six-course. 

Among the dishes featured under this menu are the Chef’s Prosperity Yee Sang with a Twist. Yin Yang of Pistolet Bay Scallops, Consomme of Tiger Prawn with Crabmeat, Black Fungus, Bamboo Shoots and ‘Money Bags’, Calamansi Lime Australian Black Angus Beef Tournedos baked with Soy and Five Spices.

In between your course meal, you will get served Ginger Sherbet. For dessert at the end of the meal, the selection will be Trio of Opera Cake, Green Tea Mousse and Longan Ice Cream. 

When I was at Cedar on 15 previously for its Romantic Valentine’s Dinner preview, I had my first glimpse of this award-winning rooftop restaurant and lounge on the hotel's 15th floor. 

I like the cosy ambience that was created for us much ahead of 14 February date for Valentine's Day. Our wine selection comprised sparkling wine from Australia, plus red and white wines from Chile. 

Enjoyed this Chilean white wine - Cono Sur Bicicleta Sauvignon Blanc 2017 -  which I was told would be the same wine served at its CNY buffet dinner

What I also like about Cedar on 15 is you can get to see panoramic views of the city skyline while you enjoy your meal. 

CNY sets

If you are with a bigger group, the hotel’s chef has lined up three CNY set menus featuring eight or nine-course dishes. They are priced at RM1,488.00⁺, RM1,788.00⁺ and RM2,388.00⁺ for a table of 10 persons respectively, with a bottle of red or white wine thrown in per table.

Among the well-known Chinese traditional dishes included in its chef’s favourite selection are Braised Seafood Soup with Five Treasures, Steamed Sea Dragon Tiger Grouper with Superior Soya Sauce, Black Mushrooms with Dried Oysters and Winter Melon with Black Moss Sauce.

The list also includes Wok Fried Fresh Tiger Prawns with Aromatic Garlic, Ginger and Tomato Paste, Roasted Chicken with Szechuan Sauce, Pumpkin Puree with Black Sesame Glutinous Rice Balls and Deep Fried Crispy New Year Cake.

Prior reservation is required if you plan to go for this CNY set. The dining venue is within the hotel with the time slot determined at your time of reservation. Best to book early to make the necessary arrangements and avoid disappointment.

I was at the hotel again for the preview of its CNY buffet specialties at Tonka Bean Café Deli, a contemporary all-day casual dining restaurant as it was promoting its CNY buffet dinner here on the eve of CNY and CNY High Tea on 5 February.  

This whole fried red snapper with sweet sour pineapple sauce was my colleague's favourite

I went for the meat dishes like this roasted lamb and seafood such as prawns and crabs cooked in various styles. 

The buffet spread was so wide, comprising western and local dishes, that I came out wondering apart from its CNY setting, did I have a CNY meal? Which means I might need to return to the hotel to check out its Fusion Chinese Specialty promotion.

The array of dessert at the buffet left me dumbfounded on what to select. I picked up a fortune cookie which tells me, "Fame, riches and romance are yours for the asking". What more can I ask for now?