ENAK! LUNCH AT LAVENDER CAFÉ
This event was held on Thursday 10th February for 11.30am. It was organized and hosted by Rosemary Chin and assisted by Corinne Sibert. This café is located at the Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC) Bangunan Sulaiman on Jalan Hishamuddinn in Kuala Lumpur.
The Lavender Café is kind of an open annex hall behind the main AIAC building in a beautiful setting of greenery and wooden walking paths with garden bridges.
The Lavender Café offered a special Menu for the Enak Lunch:
1. Nasi Ulam
2. Ayam Goreng Penyet (Flattened Fried Chicken)
3. Gulai Ikan Asam Pedas (Sour-Spicy Fish Stew)
4. Ayam Masak Lemak (Chicken Curry)
5. Sayur Lodeh (Mixed Vegetables in Coconut Sauce)
6. Egg Tofu with Mushroom
7. Kangkung sautéed with garlic (Water Spinach)
* Sambal Belacan on the side
8. Sticky Date Pudding
9. Syrup drink
10. Coffee and tea
Most of the members were on time and started mingling and enjoying the get together. It was one of the rare occasions to catch up with friends since the pandemic status. A short introduction of the café was made by Rosemary and followed by a short briefing of the Lavender Café owner, Ana Abdullah who heads the LaZat Team. She informed us of the type of food she serves at the café and the special menu “ Kampung Selections” Lavender Café was serving us on that day. She also updated us on the new location of the LaZat School at Janda Baik.
The Ayam Goreng Penyet (left) dish is originally more of an Indonesian cuisine but has become quite popular in most Malay cooking due to the influx of immigration workforce from Indonesia. It’s basically flattened chicken pieces marinated in spices and deep fried while Ayam Masak Lemak (right) is a form of Malay Chicken Curry with a lot of thick coconut milk to give the rich flavor that is termed as Lemak in Malay. Unlike the Indian curry the Malays use no curry powder but just turmeric, ground paste of lemon grass, onions and green chili and coconut milk.
Kangkung (left) is a common vegetable usually sautéed with chilli, onion and garlic. Sometimes prawn paste or belacan is added. We were served with 9more of the Chinese cooking style which was with only garlic and garnished with red chili. The Sayur Lodeh (right) is a vegetarian dish with a variety of vegetables like cabbage, shredded carrots and Tempe which is a sort of a bean flat cake made from fermented soya beans. It’s a very common Malay dish served with Nasi Empit which is made by cooking rice to a soft consistency and then setting it. It is then cut into pieces and served with the Sayur Lodeh or peanut sauce. The egg tofu is a softer version and also known as the Japanese tofu. We were served with mixed vegetables. It was very delicious and quite a favourite of many.
The flavours were mildly spicy for all our foreign Enakers and everyone was diving into the excellent tasty lavish servings. Each individual dish came with its unique taste. There was a choice of drinks and a fruity punch and water. The rose water syrup was omitted. There was tea and coffee to go with the dessert.
The dessert session was a surprise as we were served with a wide variety of local cakes and the Sticky Date Pudding. Must admit that the pudding was really yummy. We enjoyed the rich, sweet, sticky flavours and texture.
After all the feasting we as usual had a group photography session out on the lawn.
Some of us opted to do the tour of the main kitchen in the AIAC Building, It was amazing to find out that a huge fully furnished catering kitchen is offered to the Lavender Team for large functions.
After the tour it was time to bid farewell and make for home. All in a very satisfying session spent with the ENAK! GROUP. Thank you Rosemary Chin and Corinne Sibert for the hard work in setting up this special meet.
Review by Jagdev Kaur