Asia Music Festival Food : The Real Opinion

There were stalls, all neatly lined up at one side of the venue. Each stall sold a representative food from a certain Asian country. If I was not mistaken, only Malaysian food occupied 2 stalls. It was alright. We were the host. It would only be right to showcase our food. :))

The stalls

The concept was good, I thought. Great idea to provide lots of food and of different kinds too. I was sure the crowd would love to sample exotic cuisines from various Asian countries. However, I was to be disappointed. That was after I toured the stalls from one to another, and finding the food lacking in terms of variety and presentation.

1) MALAYSIA

The Malaysian stall sold snacks - there were deep-fried chicken wings, deep-fried skewers of fishballs and cocktail sausages. All items were at RM4.00. My honest opinion? Hmn .... I could think of some other snacks which were more MALAYSIAN, compared to than those mentioned above.

Fishball skewers, cocktail sausage skewers and chicken wings

The mains were sold at the next stall. They had Nasi Lemak (RM8.00), Laksa Sarawak (RM6.00), Chicken or beef Satay (RM6.00 per half dozen), Penang Fried Kuay Teow (RM6.00). 

2) VIETNAM

Vegetable Roll (RM6.00) and Pho Bo (RM6.00) represented Vietnam. I thought the vegetable roll looked so sorry .... and the Pho Bo? Well ... it was not Pho Bo. At all.  

An attempt at Vietnamese Vegetable roll

Well, as far as I know, Vietnamese rolls use rice paper. These ones here were wrapped with our local popiah pastry. Then, the filling was wrapped in a very loose manner. Worst of all, the popiahs-pretending-to-be-vietnamese-vegetable-rolls were lying on "Good Morning" towel? Eeew .... I would assume that they had something more tasteful than "Good Morning" towel. Of course, I understood that it was to prevent the rolls from drying up ... but surely there was a more presentable way to do that? 

Meanwhile, the Pho Bo really infuriated me. Why? Because it tasted like our local version of beef noodles, one I could eat at any Malay coffee shop or restaurant in town. I could even have it at my canteen, for goodness sake! 

Pho Bo? Hmn ..... where's the signature rice noodle?

In the bowl were yellow egg noodles and rice vermicelli, in clear beef bone soup; the garnishes were shredded egg omelette, beansprouts, lots of deep-fried shallots, spring onions, 2 miserable pieces of basil, and half a local lime. 

It would not want to dispute this, if ONLY the food had been marketed as "Popiah" or "Mee Sup Tulang" or something. But no, it was meant to represent Vietnam. Heck, there was even a flag flying above the stall. So if that was the case, then it was only right to expect something close to the real thing. If I were a Vietnamese, I would really feel insulted for the injustice done to my food. But since I was not, I only suffered a major let down. It was not a good feeling. 

3) PHILIPPINES

It was Stir-fried Rice Noodle (RM6.00)  for the Philippines. I think they attempted Pancit. But frankly speaking, I was not able to differentiate between that and the Penang Fried Kuay Teow. They both looked suspiciously the same, could pass off as the same thing. Just sold under two different names. 

4) JAPAN

Sushi (RM6.00) and Teriyaki Chicken (10.00) were sold at the the Japan stall.

 

No raw fish here 

5) THAILAND
Mango Salad (RM6.00) and Deep-fried Pandan Chicken (RM6.00 for 4 pieces) for Thailand;

Mango Salad 

Pandan Chicken

6) INDONESIA
Nasi Lalapan Ayam (RM12.00) and Nasi Lalapan Tenggiri (RM14.00) for Indonesia;

The chicken and fish used for lalapan

Kenapa ayam itu nampak sama dengan sana punya? I asked the man behind the stall, pointing to the Malaysian stall where deep-fried chicken wings were sold.

Sama punya, he replied.

Duh, how convenient.

7) SINGAPORE

Singapore Chicken Rice (RM8.00)

8) BRUNEI
It was Nasi Kandar (RM8.00) and Ambuyat (RM8.00) for Brunei.

Ambuyat

9) INDIA
Chicken Briyani (RM10.00) and Lamb Briyani (RM14.00) were for India.

10) HONG KONG
Dim Sum (RM6.00) and Roasted Duck Chicken Rice (RM8.00) were sold at the Hong Kong stall.

Dim Sum

Roasted duck rice

You know, I was so disappointed with the food on Night 1 that I contemplated to bring my own food to the venue on Night 2. Either that, or I had wanted to eat first before I attended the event. 

How to improve the event, I was asked? 

Perhaps one way is to improve the food scene to draw in the crowd. Not everyone loves music after all. But most people love food. Look how the Kuching Food Fest attracted people? The crowd was amazing! And talking about the food too, I think it is only right to be as authentic as possible. Don't play pretend!!! People are not fools, you know. Wouldn't they be knowledgeable or even well-travelled? I mean, people do not need to be an authority in Vietnamese food to tell the difference between Sup Tulang and Pho Bo for example.

What to eat, I asked my friend, AT. He was accompanying me on Night 2.

"Let's go and see," he said. 

"Nah, I've seen last night. You go and see. I'll wait here," I plopped into a chair to rest my legs and to fiddle with the camera, while he went to browse at the stalls. I had already decided what to eat anyway. 

"There's only one stall selling something decent," he came back to report to me.

"Which one?" I asked.

"Briyani," he said.

Coincidentally, that was what I wanted too. 

Chicken Briyani

Fortunately, the Chicken Briyani was rather palatable. Both the rice and the chicken were nicely flavoured, not too overpowering. Unlike the night before, I finished my food this time.

The Stout was cooling and quenched my thirst. It also did much to quell my disappointment. ;P 

So much for the food, eh? I had anticipated it much .... but then it did not turn out great. Was it I who had been expecting too much? It was a music festival. Not a food festival, after all. But then, would it harm to provide great food? In my opinion, to take the event to greater heights, the food scene needed a major revamp. I would demand a certain level of excitement and sophistication in my food for the next edition of Asia Music Festival.