Fresh Flavours with Anna Olson @ KL

Anna Olson is definitely one of my favorite chefs to watch on Asian Food Channel. I was so happy when I got the chance to meet her in person yesterday during her cooking demo in Berjaya University College of Hospitality - she is so witty and charming. This Canadian celebrity chef is in Malaysia from 22 to 23 November 2012 as part of her "Fresh Flavours with Anna Olson" tour. 

Anna Olson is a professionally trained pastry chef with over fifteen years of experience in the culinary field. She shares her talents with the world through award-winning cookbooks, opening culinary businesses and starring in television shows such as Bake with Anna Olson, Sugar and Fresh with Anna Olson, all of which air on the Asian Food Channel. Bake with Anna Olson recently premiered on Asian Food Channel on 16 October 2012 at 9pm.

She began her career as a pastry chef at a premier winery restaurant located in the midst of prime Niagara farm and wine country named, ‘Inn on the Twenty’. It was here where she met her husband, Michael Olson.

Anna has also published several successful cookbooks. Currently, she has six cookbook publications under her belt, with her most recent release titled, Fresh with Anna Olson. Using food as her creative medium, Anna likes to work backwards, starting with ingredients that sound delicious to create components within the recipe body to get a delicious end result.

Will Quah, MC for the afternoon

During the cooking demo, Chef Anna shows us how to make two dishes - a savoury tourtière and a sweet pumpkin creme brulee tart. Tourtière is a French-Canadian classic dish originating from Quebec, commonly served during Christmas time, and is usually made with ground veal, beef or pork. It is quite similar to the British's steak and kidney pie, however the addition of all spice powder is what makes it unique.

Chef Anna Olson with her tourtière

Next, she showed us how to make pumpkin creme brulee tarts, which will be perfect for Thanksgiving. She makes a Pate Sablee dough and pours over a creamy filling of pumpkin puree, cream cheese and egg yolks. A tip she gave us to make the dough more delicate and tender is to add a hard boiled egg yolk when making the dough. The tarts were really delicious. I think I will attempt this at home next week when I have time, I think my family will like it very much since they love pumpkin.

Chef Anna Olson with her two delectable bakes

Tourtière

Mini tourtière samplers - with the letter "A" for Anna - how cute!

Pumpkin creme brulee tarts

A photo with "poster" Anna 

And ooooh, a photo with Anna Olson herself :)

 And a photo with Eunice :) Love the tiramisu background - definitely apt for us foodies!

Will share the recipes for both the tourtière and pumpkin creme brulee tarts soon.

Thanks to AGC and Asian Food Channel for the invite and giving me the chance to meet the wonderful Anna Olson in person.

Lai Po Heen @ Mandarin Oriental KL

Lai Po Heen is Mandarin Oriental KL's award-winning Chinese restaurant, serving both Cantonese and Szechuan cuisine. We were invited there recently to sample some of their a la carte menu selections. Chinese Executive Chef Ricky Thein explains that they have revamped about a third of their a la carte menu with new items. Every month, they will also feature 3 types of special set menus for diners to choose from.

Other than the new menus, Lai Po Heen has also recently undergone a facelift and sports an elegant look. The grand decor was inspired by the homes of Chinese tycoons with high ceiling complete with wooden and glass panel sliding doors embellished with intricate classic Oriental designs. The dining area is decorated in rich white and gold tones and adorned with ornate chandeliers, Oriental artwork and artifacts. Diners can also admire the skilled chefs in the open kitchen. 

We started off our meal with the Seven spices scented soft shell crab rolls with ginger jelly. The presentation is inspired by the Japanese temaki, but instead of the temaki holders, Chef Ricky cleverly presents his roll in hollowed-out melon rounds. The soft shell crab was crispy and flavorful.. a great start to our meal.

Chef Ricky is famous for his soups and he certainly impressed us with his double boiled kung fu soup with baby abalone, fish maw, scallops, morel mushrooms, cordyceps and baby cabbage. The superior stock has been boiled for 4 hours resulting in a clear yet flavorful soup, filled with many sea treasures. Loved it.

Dried scallops

Baby abalone

The oven baked black cod fillet with butter and cheese crust was one of my favorite dishes of the evening. This is a fusion dish using Western ingredients such as Parmesan cheese and turkey ham. The cod was perfectly cooked - fresh, flaky fish complemented well by the cheese crust. The fish is served with asparagus and tempura mushrooms.

Flaky and yummy

The key to cooking a good vegetable dish is using fresh vegetables and it has to be cooked very quickly. Though it looks simple, timing and skill is important, explains Chef Ricky. The stir fried seasonal vegetables (4 types depending on availability) with honey and crispy preserved olive tree leaves is as it should be - crunchy and fresh.

The wok fried prawns were huge and juicy, which was nicely coated in a spicy lemongrass sauce. Chef Ricky used a Vietnam chilli powder to give this dish a subtle heat and the Thai basil leaf for a nice fragrance.

Wok fried prawn with spicy lemongrass sauce

The Jasmine tea leaf smoked chicken served with a ginger onion dip was delicious. We certainly could smell and taste the tea which has been infused into the meat of the chicken by smoking. The taste of tea leaves in this dish is further enhanced by some deep fried tea leaves as garnish. Chef Ricky explains that in Cantonese cuisine, chicken should always be paired with ginger. He uses corn fed free range chicken for the best taste and succulent meat.

To end the meal on a sweet note, we were served Lai Po Heen's signature dessert, the durian pancake. Fresh D24 durian is mixed with whipped cream and wrapped in a thin crepe, resembling the durian fruit. This was good, and Hubby who is a non-durian lover also found this delicious. Luscious.

Chinese Executive Chef, Ricky Thein

All photos above are taken with the Leica V-Lux 3, a camera that we won from Mandarin Oriental's "What Mosaic Are You?" contest. Below are also some shots taken with the Leica of the world-famous Petronas Twin Towers and also KL Tower.

Petronas Twin Towers at night

KL Tower

Join Mandarin Oriental's Facebook page here for latest updates and contests.

Opening times: 12pm to 2.30pm for lunch (Mon-Sat), 11am-3pm (Sundays & public holidays), 7pm to 10.30 for dinner (Mon-Sun).

Location: Lai Po Heen, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Kuala Lumpur City Centre, 50088 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Tel: 03-2179 8885

Website: http://www.mandarinoriental.com/kualalumpur/