Malaysian Winter Night Market at Bryant Park NYC

Malaysian Winter Night Market@Bryant Park NYC 2013

Last February 20 - 21, 2013 Malaysia Kitchen for the World hosted The Malaysian Winter Market at Bryant Park's Fountain Terrace, featuring a variety of signature Malaysian dishes and traditional Malaysian food products by restaurants and vendors in New York City and the Tri-State area.

Malaysia Kitchen Tastes Success With Matrade Campaign

The campaign has generated significant outcome in term of increases in restaurants, patronage, revenue, opening of new outlets, and visibility in local popular television shows.

The campaign mounted by Malaysia External Trade Development Corp (Matrade) on the Malaysia Kitchen Programme (MKP) in the US, the UK, Australia and New Zealand has resulted in gastronomical success for the participating Malaysian restaurants.

Malaysian restaurants overseas that are under the programme have seen their revenues rise nearly a quarter, or 23.7 per cent during the campaign. The campaign has helped attract about 23.5 per cent more people to eat Malaysian food in New York, London, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Auckland and Wellington. According to Matrade deputy chief executive officer Datuk Zakaria Kamarudin, the campaign has generated significant outcome in term of increases in restaurants, patronage, revenue, opening of new outlets, recognition through labels, franchises, access to mainstream supermarkets, as well as visibility in local popular television shows.

Read complete article here...

'"Serai" in Germany

Malaysian landscape architect takes her cooking passion to greater heights

A new Malaysian restaurant scheduled to open tomorrow in this university town will not only satisfy palates, but also promote Malaysian cuisine in Germany, which so far, has only four Malaysian restaurants -- two in Munich and one each in Frankfurt and Hamburg.

"Serai", the new restaurant in Schillerstrasse here will open its doors to the public in what is seen as a "major step" that can lead towards raising the level of awareness of the local people about Malaysian cuisine. Heidelberg is located in the southern German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.

"Because Malaysian cuisine is not widely known in Germany, I am convinced that it has great potential to become popular in this country," said the owner, Juliah Rais-Morres, at the newly renovated premises.

Juliah, who hails from Negri Sembilan, has lived in Germany for 22 years and is married to a German information technology professional, Uwe Morres, who works for the local labour office.

Although she is a landscape architect by profession and worked for 11/2 years at the Selangor Economic Development Corporation, Juliah received an intense hands-on exposure to food preparation and cooking at an early age from her family.

Her father, who owned a food business, and her sister, proficient at cooking, gave her valuable training.

Juliah's passion for cooking helped her enter food catering business alongside her work as an architect.

In the course of privately catering meals to individuals interested in Malaysian food, she was also urged to start her own restaurant specialising in Malaysian food.

Along the way, she also conducts cooking lessons in Malaysian cuisine at an adult education school here.

She said the encouraging response from the Germans strengthened her belief that Malaysian cuisine would do well in a city that had a large number of international students and expatriates who were always open to foreign cuisine.

In the pipeline, Juliah plans to introduce satay, which she said was her signature dish, curry puff, roti canai, rendang and other Malaysian dishes.

"I am not going to depend on Malaysian customers alone for my business. Indeed, my customers will be mainly Germans, who are already familiar with Asian cuisine and would appreciate the rich diversity represented by our cuisine."

Click for more info: "Serai" Malaysia Kitchen Restaurant

Malaysia Kitchen at the Spice Market London

Malaysia Kitchen have teamed up with Peter Lloyd, Executive head chef at the W Hotel’s Spice Market London to create a bespoke ’10 Flavours of Malaysia’ tasting menu.

The Spice Market is well known for its sleek and modern take on Asian street food so it was only fitting that the Spice Market would celebrate the fantastic street food dishes that make Malaysia a foodie hotspot!


The menu incorporates a whole array of fantastic flavours that takes each diners taste buds on a journey across Malaysia. From the busy streets of Penang with the Nyonya Seafood Laksa, right through to the tropical island of Borneo with the Sarawak Black Pepper Shrimp.


The following is the full menu, available at £48 per head:


Roti Canai, Sambal

Chicken Satay, Gula Melaka, Peanut & Tamarind Sauce

Vegetable Popiah

Sarawak Black Pepper Shrimp, Sun Dried Pineapple

Ox Cheek Rendang, Crisp Apple and Jicama

Nyonya Seafood Laksa,

Nasi Goreng, Shrimp Omelette

Cod with Malaysian Chilli Sauce, Basil & Celery

Durian Ice Cream

Bubur Cha Cha

This menu is only available till April 7th, so reserve a table now to avoid disappointment! Bookings can be made by phone or through visiting the Spice Market website.


We hope you are able to go along and enjoy this bespoke menu and are amazed as us at these 10 beautiful flavours of Malaysia!

Spice Market London

W Hotel London

10 Wardour St.,

London

W1D 6QF

Phone: 0207 758 1088
http://www.spicemarketlondon.co.uk

Malaysia Street Festival

Malaysia Street Festival 2013 will portray the Street markets of the orient. Preparations are well underway for the inaugural alfresco street dining event, taking place this October 13 in the Melbourne's oldest heritage market setting of Queen Victoria Market.

As a special culinary event celebrating Malaysia Day a cultural celebration by all Malaysians, the pop-up restaurant festival will deliver authentic Malaysian cuisine like no other with over 30 mouth-watering dishes from Melbourne's Malaysian most authentic restaurants.On top of that visits by chefs from East Malaysia will also deliver three dishes not found in Melbourne in this one day celebration.

Experience the best cuisine from Malaysia and our ASEAN and our former colonial powers whom colonized Malaysia, and enjoy authentic cultural entertainment throughout the day. Experience being of what it is like being Malaysian to all.

Event Details

Date: Sunday 13th October 2013

Time: 9am to 4pm

Location: Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne, Australia

Admission: Free to the public


Activities:

• 17 Restaurants featuring authentic Malaysian, Nyonya and our neighboring ASEAN countries Indonesia, Phillipines, Thailand & Singapore. 2 other specialists in drinks will also be present.
• Specialist stalls featuring cultural showcases, handicraft, interactive activities for kids
• 14 cultural and music performances

For more information, visit the website

http://www.alivegroup.com.au/our-projects/9-malaysia-street-festival.html

Matrade promotes Malaysian brands through China's 7-Eleven

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) collaborated with China’s 7-Eleven chain to promote Malaysian brands in Beijing, Tianjin and 773 other 7-Eleven stores in other cities across China.

Matrade said the 7-Eleven Malaysia Week In-Store Promotion held from April 8 to 22, 2013 involved a total of 32 product lines from 10 Malaysian brands such as cookies, snacks, coffee, pudding, fruit juice, sauces and paste, chocolate and durian ice cream.

Matrade also leveraged on this activity to promote patronage to Malaysian restaurants in China under the Malaysia Kitchen Programme. 

The 200 stores located in Beijing and Tianjin receive an average of 250,000 customers per day, and provided an effective exposure for Malaysian F&B products as well as Malaysian restaurants that were promoted.

‘Publicity conducted through 7-Eleven, Malaysia Kitchen’s Chinese online platform and popular social media sites resulted in a 10% increase in patronage at the participating 7-Eleven stores,” it said.

Matrade said based on the initial promotion programme, 7-Eleven stores in Beijing, Tianjin and other cities have made repeat orders for more products.

“Prior to the in-store promotion, 7-Eleven stores in Beijing and Tianjin carried only two product lines of a Malaysian brand. Due to the success of the promotion, the management of 7-Eleven has made plans to increase the product lines of Malaysian brands to include other products such as instant noodles, dried seafood, dried tropical fruits, chocolate products, fruit juices, white coffee and Teh Tarik,” it said.

There are currently 973 stores of the 7-Eleven chain throughout China and the number is expected to surpass 1,000 stores in the next few years. The 7-Eleven stores in China are mainly concentrated in Guangzhou, Beijing, Shandong, Chengdu and Tianjin.

Promoting Malaysia Cuisine

The buffet lunch and dinner at China World Hotel in Beijing, China, are spiced up with Malaysian dishes this week.

A collaboration between the hotel and the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade), the food promotion is organised under the Malaysia Kitchen programme to raise awareness on Malaysian cuisine among consumers in the Chinese capital.

A Malaysian chef popularly known as Chef Yang Jamil was invited to helm the kitchen during the event that runs from now until tomorrow.


The 42-year-old chef with about 20 years of culinary experience said Malaysian delights were appealing because they carry the influences of Malay, Chinese and Indian cultures.

“Our mouth-watering dishes are always made from scratch, using different kinds of spices,” he said.

Other dishes that he has prepared for the event are roti canai, rendang, mee rebus, soto and assorted kuih-muih.

Matrade senior trade commissioner Abu Bakar Yusof said the Malaysia Kitchen programme, which kicked off in 2009, was a government initiative that came under the purview of Matrade.

It was previously held in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia before it was introduced in China two years ago.

“The aim of Malaysia Kitchen is to generate publicity about Malaysian cuisine, Malaysian restaurants, and also food and beverage products,” Abu Bakar explained.

He added that the food promotion at China World Hotel, which is supported by Tourism Malaysia, Education Malaysia and Malaysia Airlines, targeted the guests of the luxury hotel.

“The restaurant where the buffet is served is patronised by 500 to 600 people a day,” he said.

Meanwhile, Abu Bakar added that the Export-Import Bank of Malaysia Bhd (Exim Bank) offered soft loan to Malaysian entrepreneurs operating restaurants overseas through its Malaysia Kitchen Financing Facility.

“One of the 16 Malaysian-owned restaurants in Beijing has successfully received a loan from the bank, while another is in the process of applying.

“The soft loan will assist the Malaysian companies to reduce their financial burden and expand their businesses,” he said.