Press Release:- More than two thousand of the country’s “who’s who” gathered in the Grand Ballroom of Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa last night, to celebrate the start of the region’s most anticipated fine dining event – The Malaysia International Gourmet Festival (MIGF).
The theme for this year “It’s Raining Chefs! – a deliberately lighthearted tagline coined by Dato’ Steve Day, the Festival’s Organising Chairman, aimed at giving the Festival universal appeal. All 28 participating restaurants created specially themed stations to showcase their Festival dishes, some reflecting the MIGF theme, some an identical representation of their restaurant and others reaching as high as the ceiling of the grand ballroom. The two thousand VIP guests included royalty, ambassadors, captains of the industry, leading corporate figures, local and international media as well as travel and food writers. Add to the mix celebrities, social movers and shakers and big boys of the food & beverage industry.
Guest of Honour for the evening was Minister of Tourism YB Dato Sri Dr Ng Yen Yen, and Royal Patron Tunku Laxamana of Negeri Sembilan Tunku Naquiyuddin Ibni Tuanku Ja’afar. Together with Dato Steve Day, they cut through a massive 12-foot high chef’s hat, marking the official entry into the ballroom. As soon as they stepped in with the excited guests, they were greeted by sounds of clanging pots and pans from a gang of chefs, backed by a full Latin band and Festival Master Chefs waiting to greet them on stage.
And in a moment’s notice unbeknownst to the Guest of Honour, an explosion of confetti was released into the air and just as immediately Dato’ Steve and Tunku Naquiyuddin came to the rescue by opening umbrellas over the Minister’s head.
The Minister was then taken on a tour of the Festival Restaurants beginning with West Lake Garden Chinese Restaurant from Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa, who were the venue sponsor for the Gala Launch.
Conceptualised and first introduced in 2001 to revitalize a sleepy fine dining sector, and past winner of the Pacific Air Travel Association Gold Award for Marketing, MIGF has made hundreds of people in countries throughout the world aware of Malaysia’s fine dining capabilities. Now an integral part of Tourism Malaysia’s “Fabulous Food 1 Malaysia” strategy, foodies everywhere can make a date with Festival restaurants to enjoy these once-in-a-year signature menus at competitive prices and at the same time enjoy bulk booking discounts and room night offers amongst other exciting promotions and offers.
The main sponsor for MIGF is Tourism Malaysia, supported by Carlsberg with Kronenbourg 1664 as the official beer, Astro and AFC channel, Lite FM, Fujifilm, Seni Jaya, Vision Four and Vision KL.
A total of 28 top restaurants made up MIGF 2011. These include the following hotel restaurants: Bunga Emas and L’Heritage from The Royale Chulan KL; Chalet from Hotel Equatorial KL; Chynna and Iketeru from Hilton KL; Dynasty and Sagano from Renaissance KL Hotel; The Emperor from Grand Dorsett Subang Hotel; Imperial Rama and The Olive from Genting Malaysia Bhd; Kofuku Japanese Restaurant from Seri Pacific Hotel KL; Lafite from Shangri-La Hotel KL; Lai Ching Yuen Chinese Restaurant from Grand Millennium KL; Mandarin Grill and Lai Po Heen from Mandarin Oriental KL; THE POMELO at The Banjaran Hotsprings Retreat; The Restaurant from The Club Saujana Resort; Samplings On The Fourteen from Berjaya Times Square Hotel KL; Senja from The Saujana Hotel KL; Tatsu Japanese Restaurant from InterContinental KL and West Lake Garden Chinese Restaurant from Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa. The top ‘standalone’ restaurants from Kuala Lumpur participating are Al-Amar, Cuisine Gourmet by Natalie, Flame, NEO Tamarind , Tamarind Springs, Nerovivo and Royal India.
All details can be found on the Festival website, www.migf.com.