Taste of Australia with Mark Best @ QBA, The Westin Kuala Lumpur

The Westin Kuala Lumpur is currently running the Taste of Australia together with Tourism Australia. Featuring a trio of celebrity chefs and a chocolatier, it's something you don't want to miss if you love food. We took the opportunity to try dinner last weekend together with Lyrical Lemongrass and her husband, the Bald Eagle. To kick off the fair, they had Mark Best who is the Sydney Best Chef 2006 at the QBA Restaurant. Pictures aren't too fantastic as the lighting is extremely dim there. Featuring a ten course meal, we kicked off with the Chaud-Froid Free Range Egg. Literally meaning hot and cold in French, the warm coddled egg is topped with cold cream. Really yummy and very comfort food like.



Next course was the Blue Swimmer Crab with Almond Jelly and Gazpacho. Nice and light, it's topped with a sprinkling of popcorn dust. The jelly is light as a feather while the crab meat is sweet.



This was everyone's favourite dish - the Cured Ocean Trout with Rock Oyster and Pickled Melon. A wafer thin slice of melon topped the fish which complemented it so well. Each bite was a melt in the mouth sensation with the burst of sweetness.



This is one of Mark Best's signature dishes which he also recently served at the World Gourmet Summit in Singapore. The Risotto of Calamari with Prawn Broth and Curry Leaf is unusual as instead of rice, you get tiny pieces of chopped calamari as the risotto. I liked this combination of the rich prawn broth and the crunchy curry leaves. Reminded me of the flavours you get in butter prawns but very much lighter.



Next was the Mille Feuille - Foil of Smoked Bonito. Wafer thin potato slices sandwich the thick smoked bonito with olive truffles and crushed almonds on the side. I liked the thin potato slices but didn't like the smoked bonito.



Then it was the roast duckling with pumpkin and olive liquorice. It's amazing how he got the olive to taste like liquorice. Quite an unusual combination but it works with the tender duckling and very tangy lemon curd on the side.



Next came the first of the dessert courses - a divine goats cheese on top of a marzipan cake and served with vanilla celery. There's an interesting twist to this dish - a Malaysian one with the addition of rambutans on the side. At first we thought it was lychee but we found out it was rambutan after checking with the kitchen.



We loved this - the Sauternes Custard with Caramel. Silky smooth it was such good stuff that all of us wanted seconds of this.



Then it was the Chocolate Banana, Apricot and Coffee. If you have a sweet tooth, this is not for you as the chocolate mousse is bittersweet and rich. Combined with the banana, it takes a while to get used to.



We finished up with Apple Pectin Jellies that reminded me of soft jelly candies and the divine Koko Black salted caramel chocolate. It was fantastic - bittersweet chocolate shell encasing a not too sweet caramel filling.

It was an extremely satisfying meal and really superb food. The restaurant was packed to the brim with people. If you wish to sample more of the other Australian chefs, the fair will be on until 20 May, 2007. There'll be Daniel Mosedale and Andrew McCornell who is Melbourne's Top Chef 2007. Then there's also the Koko Black chocolatiers. Very tempted to try the chocolate and wine tasting on 18 May, 2007 as the chocolate we had at the dinner was excellent stuff. To get the schedule, click on Westin Dining and the What's Hot icon at the bottom of the website. The menus are also online so you know what will be served at the Daniel Mosedale and Andrew McCornell dinners. Happy dining!

Tagged with: Westin Kuala Lumpur + Mark Best