There’s been a lot going on in the last few weeks and one of the highlights was the Australian Association of Hong Kong’s event at the Consul-General’s residence.
Over 90 guests enjoyed sipping fine wine and mingling with fellow Aussies whilst taking in the sensational view of Deep Water Bay (including Ocean Park lit up in all its glory on top of the mountain!).
It was such a privilege to be a guest in a fabulous (multi-million dollar) Art Deco home and be hosted by the Australian Consul General, Paul Tighe and his lovely wife Di.
They were so welcoming and ridiculously down to earth, it wasn’t funny!
It was also great to enjoy this experience with my beautiful friends Liz, Amy and Anthea.
All of the girls are from Sydney and all are great fun!
I’m looking forward to October when we head back to the Consul-General’s residence to host the annual Pink Morning Tea on behalf of the Australian Association!
I had a trip to Kuala Lumpur this past week and it was super short and definitely sweet.
I only had one full day there and decided to spend it exploring the charming historic town of Melaka, which is two hours outside of KL.
I’ll actually post about this fun escapade next week as a part of my Travel Blog series, but I’m sure you’re dying to know what I ate?
Luckily for James and I we have a great local friend Amy who always takes us on a culinary adventure every time we’re in town (together and separately!).
This time around Amy took us to a traditional Malay restaurant, which had loads of atmosphere, a few “celebrities” and of course fantastic food.
As we walked in we saw the extensive buffet and we couldn’t resist the opportunity to tantalize our taste buds with a magnificent spread of Malay delicacies.
Highlights were all the usual Malay dishes such as beef rending, tasty satay skewers and freshly cooked roti.
But most of all I really enjoyed trying the traditional Malay drinks as well as the sweets!
We first tried two popular Malay drinks with the first one being Bandung, consisting of ice-cold condensed milk and rose syrup flavouring.
It resembled a luminous strawberry milkshake and was surprisingly refreshing.
We then switched to a hot beverage of Teh Tarik, which literally means ‘pulled tea.’
Teh Tarik is considered the national drink of Malaysia and it didn’t disappoint.
Made simply from black tea and condensed milk, its name is derived from the pouring process of ‘pulling’ the liquid during preparation and the little bubbles created on top.
My favourite sweets were the scrumptious little Onde-Onde balls. These Malay poached rice flour balls are coated with loads of shredded coconut and are all kinds of deliciousness!
Each little ball is filled with palm sugar that melts in your mouth when bitten into. Also, the ‘Shrek-like’ green hue is thanks to the inclusion of Pandan leaves. Amazing!
I also finally tried the ever popular ice dessert, Ais Kacang or ABC (Air Batu Campur, meaning “mixed ice”).
This is a super sweet treat and has all kinds of random ingredients in it including sweet corn, red beans, grass jelly and cubes of agar agar (amongst anything else bright and sweet you want to throw in!).
As we were wrapping up our Malay feast we got to meet one of the restaurant’s co-owners and celebrity chef, Ismail Ahmaand, (apparently the other co-owner is Malaysia’s first atronaut, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar).
After having a quick chat to Ismail, hearing all about his time on Po’s Kitchen and him quizzing me on Cantonese cuisine we got a quick photo and tried to leave before they insisted on feeding us more incredible food.
I can definitely recommend a meal at Restoran Rebung the next time you visit KL!
But make sure you check their location as they are relocating to the Botanical Gardens at the end of 2015, so Ismail told me!
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Have you ever tried any of these Malaysian delicacies or something similar in your travels? I would love to hear them in the comments section!
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Love,
