I relish eating Malaysian food ergo when I came to know about the ongoing Malaysian food festival at The Westin Pune, I made a bee line for it. My expectations went up quite a few notches when I came to know that Chef Nazarudin Yusoh has been brought in from Malaysia just for the festival. Truth be told the chef has done a fabulous job along with Chef De Cuisine Harpal Singh. Each dish was at par with the original version which I had sampled on my last trip to Kuala Lumpur.
Start your culinary journey with the salad counter. Kerabu Buah Buahan is a gorgeous salad of lightly tossed arugula with pomelo segments, crunchy peanuts, pomegranate seeds and toasted coconut. While Rendang Kambing is a rich spicy chunky meat dish along the lines of Achari Gosht. The most unusual salad would have to be Kerabu Hidupan Laut which is a base of jellied apricots, topped with mixed seafood, micro herbs, prunes and figs.
A must try starter is the Kebab Ayam which is delicious chicken kebab on lemon grass sticks served with a tasty rendang sauce. The live station features Dengan Kari Ayam with Roti Jala. It was quite fascinating to see the actual preparation of the roti as it is quite a task to master. It complimented the accompanying spicy chicken curry.
The real party though starts once the mains hit the table. The dish of the day has to awarded to Udang Goreng Dengan Oats Dan Daun Kari which in lay mans term is wok fried prawns with oats. This dish was the ultimate surprise with perfectly cooked prawns in an awesome crunchy, spicy, salty oats mix. It went exceptionally well with the Nasi Goreng. The Ikan Masak Asam Pedas or king fish simmered in a tamarind gravy was equally good and came in a close second.
Asian desserts aren’t really to my liking so wasn’t sure what to expect from the two dishes on offer. But both were very pleasant to eat and looked really elegant. Kullt Ketayap are pandan flavour pancakes with a nice coconut filling. While Agar Agar Gula Melaka was a very subtle palm sugar jelly.
The Westin Pune Koregaon Park
36/3-B Koregaon Park Annexe, Mundhwa Road, Ghorpadi,
Pune 411001,
www.westin.com/punekoregaonpark
020 67210063.
Sanaea Patel
