Today I managed to take a break in the afternoon hence I seized the opportunity to head over to the Palace of the Golden Horses to check out the Gourmand World Media Awards which started yesterday (17 May) and is due to finish on Sunday (21 May).
Basically this is "the Academy Awards of the food and wine media" (as extracted from the Flavours magazine write up). It's also quite an honour for Malaysia to host it this year since it's the first time it has been held in Asia. The awards will be announced at the Gala Dinner held on Saturday night but in the meantime, there are lots of events for the delegates.
I managed to catch one of the Masterclasses they were holding in the afternoon hosted by Chef Wan, Malaysia's celebrity chef. It was really fun as he was extremely entertaining (Sorry for the slight blurry pix as he was moving his hands). He demonstrated two dishes: Kerutup Daging (a beef rendang originating from Terengganu) and Lawar (Vegetable Kerabu). We sampled the food and it tasted really good. There are Masterclasses held throughout tomorrow and on Saturday with Le Cordon Bleu chefs, Florence Tan and Chef Shukri. Sadly I missed Bob Blumer, that quirky guy from Surreal Gourmet as his Masterclass was held in the morning.
As this is all about cookbooks, the nominated cookbooks are on display for everyone to view. Really fantastic nominees - even though I can't understand the language, I am blown away by the photography. A few of the publishers have also set up booth at the hotel whereby you can purchase certain cookbooks. I was eyeing The Silver Spoon, THE Italian cookbook that everyone is talking about which I have yet to see on the bookshelves here. If you love Italian, you should get this huge book which is going for RM150, a steal since it's usually priced at RM200. According to the distributors, they are not planning to bring it to the KL bookshops. The only problem with buying the books is they don't really have credit card facilities yet. One stall is due to get theirs tomorrow while another accepts Amex and cash only. At the top of my head, I saw Marshall Cavendish's books, Conran books (they have last year's winner, Harumi Kurihara's book), BBC Books which includes Delia Smith and Le Cordon Bleu books.
If you are a food enthusiast and crazy about cookbooks, head there to check out the various cookbooks and Masterclasses. For further details, check out the awards website and the cookbookfair website.
Tagged with: Gourmand Awards + Chef Wan
I really wanted to come up for this. Too much stupid work prevented me from making the trip. Are you going to attend the awards presentations?
ReplyDeletei'm gonna miss this. Why are all the good stuff held during my working period where i cant leave.
ReplyDeleteAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHi read your blog too late.....!!!! are the masterclasses free??? ARGGGGHHHHHH. thumping chest and head. NO NO NO NO
ReplyDeletewow chef wan looks so tembam!!! Get the silver spoon book!!! It is fabulous! At that price it is even cheaper than in NL!
ReplyDeletechubby hubby - I wish someone will give me tickets as I would love to see the people there.
ReplyDeletefoodcrazee - poor you! Work first as I am sure you'll get more opportunities later.
fatboybakes - pssssssssstt, those classes are free! Try and go today as they are still on this Saturday.
valisa - I'm not sure becoz most ingredients are not available here. This weekend also not free as need to buy other stuff.
Oh yeah!! I wanna go too but it's too far, and i dont know the way..i'll probably have to ask my dad to drive me there..
ReplyDeleteI hope they're still there on sunday... !!
I met the French Master Cuisine Chef Patrick Martin n French Master Pastry Chef Fabrice Danniel in the Le Cordon Bleu talk a few days ago.. They're both teaching in LCB in Paris..
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ReplyDeletesorry, seems like i'm flooding ur comment box.. but it seems like the event's ending tonight.. -.-
ReplyDeleteSwee - Yup, those two Le Cordon Bleu chefs were demonstrating for the 3 days and yeah, the Masterclasses ended today. Sorry you couldn't go.
ReplyDeleteboo, i am so sad! i read this post too late too
ReplyDeleterokh - poor thing!
ReplyDeleteSlightly blurry hands aren't a problem - actually its in a way a good thing, because it shows movement associated with what chefs do - moving their hands as they cook!, and it does make the picture more dynamic (shame though that you can't see what's he's adding (or even what's he's really doing!)
ReplyDeleteand yes, chef wan is pretty rich too (monetary wise)!
elb - he was spooning the salad to the bowl. Actually I was impressed with his food, very tasty.
ReplyDelete