MIGF 2014: Nook, Aloft Kuala Lumpur Sentral

It's that time of the year again and Malaysia International Gourmet Festival (MIGF) is back for its 14th year with the theme "Red Hot Chefs". Making its debut last year and back again this year is NOOK in Aloft KL Sentral, which will showcase their festival menu throughout the whole month of October.

NOOK's innovative festival menu is created by Executive Sous Chef Rozaiman and his team. Diners can choose to indulge in a 3-course light menu for RM98 nett per person (RM130 nett with cocktails and wines) or 6-course full festival menu at RM188 nett per person (RM250 nett with cocktails and wine).

Staying true to Aloft's fun and playful style, Chef Rozaiman's menu showcases local dishes with a modern twist. There is even some molecular action thrown in. Overall, I was most impressed with the dishes - beautifully presented, tastes great and so much fun to eat!

Chef Rozaiman with his Festival menu

For a sassy start, we were served a unique Malaysian-style kerabu salad (with a fusion twist, of course)- marinated sea conch, octopus and sea urchin roe with coconut kerabu and fiddlehead fern (pucuk paku). This was undoubtedly the prettiest dish of the evening. The sea conch (a first for me), is marinated in lime juice, spicy chilli, salt and pepper, sort of like a Asian-style ceviche. Mix everything well together and you have one tasty salad. The salad is paired with a delicious WXYZ Mojito.

WXYZ Mojito

Marinated sea conch, octopus and sea urchin roe with coconut kerabu and fiddlehead fern 

The second dish is chicken noodle soup, which I thought was pretty fantabulous. A meal in NOOK is afterall incomplete without some syringe action - the liquid made from black chicken is injected into the hot soup to create your noodle strands. How cool is that! The consomme soup was very tasty too - Chef explains that it is a pindang style soup with galangal and lemongrass.

Good, interactive fun

For the first main course, we were served the sambal beef tongue and tendon served with percik sauce and achar crudite. The flavours are bold and punchy and we like this a lot! Chef Rozaiman tells us that the beef tongue is cooked sous vide style for 12 hours, shredded and then cooked with sambal sauce. No wonder it is so tender, almost like eating Wagyu beef. The tendon have also been cooked til tender, absolutely delish.

This is paired with the Miguel Torres Santa Digna Chardonnay Reserve

A refreshing lemongrass, lime and pandan sherbet to cleanse our palate

My favorite dish of the evening is the cod fish assam pedas, served with garlic rice, salted egg and tempura egg plant. Cod is such a delicate fish, but the spices in the assam pedas is just right, making this simply delectable. Chef Rozaiman explains that in his kampong, salted egg is commonly served with assam pedas. I wish I could have more of this!

For a sweet ending, we had the NOOK Cendol paired with a Sour Boy. The cendol is served with syringes filled with coconut milk and palm sugar syrup, and you can adjust the taste to your liking.

Sour Boy - Cointreau, lime, assam boi

Pandan rice flour jelly, ba'kelalan salt, palm sugar, red bean and glutinous rice

Playing with your food is highly encouraged here. :)

Coffee, tea or ABK is served with the Festival menu. If you are a coffee lover, then go for the ABK (Ais Batu Kopi) - ice latte served with Bristot espresso cubes. The cold milk and sugar syrup are served in beakers, how fun!

Pork-free.

Price: 3-course light menu for RM98 nett per person (RM130 nett with cocktails and wines) or 6-course full festival menu at RM188 nett per person (RM250 nett with cocktails and wine).

Location: NOOK, Level 1, Aloft KL Sentral, No 5 Jalan Stesen Sentral, 50470 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-2723 1154

Website: http://www.aloftkualalumpursentral.com/

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