I'M DELIGHTED TO SAY THAT the second edition of my restaurant guide "Great Dining in Penang 2" will be coming out soon - and launch date is now confirmed for end of June. HOWEVER that has meant additional pressure on me to get everything ready. It's mostly there, but still a lot of chasing left.
One lamentable result is lack of time to do things like update blogs, although today I was moved to do so because I attended an unusual event at 2pm this afternoon: Chef Wan (aka Redzuawan Ismail) officially "opened" the Golden Sands Resort's herb and spice garden just outside Sigi's. Cheffie, who is of course now a "Datuk", being one of Malaysia's most important ambassadors, was on top form as usual. He's here to film his new series "Glorious European Food" with Executive Sous Chef John Brock which will be aired on AFC and TV2.
(What do you think they're whispering to each other?)
1000 sq ft plot now has about 28 types growing on it including some rare varieties like Sawtooth Coriander, Daun Salam and Stevia, black pepper, galangal, Daun Kaduk etc. According to Bruno, the home-grown herbs, set up under the guidance and expertise of the Tropical Spice Garden in Teluk Bahang, will be used in Sigi's dishes, so diners can expect "enthralling twists" to well-known offering soon, he promises us. I look forward to some tropical cum exotic flavours ... Turmeric and Cardamom-flavoured pizza, maybe?
Chef Wan gave a short (for him) sweet speech about how important it is to use herbs in cooking: the flavours, colours and aromas being so varied, then together with GM Bruno Cristol he officially "cut" the ribbon and Bob, as they say, was your uncle. He also signed the plaque and even took the trouble to doodle a little figure of himself presumably on it. After that there was a (very) short walk around the garden whilst he "labelled" a few of the plants.
Everyone scuttled into the cool of the air conditioning where refreshing cold drinks were served and Cheffie gave a press conference.
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