Chineej anyone?

A few of my readers have talked about a dearth of good Asian cuisine restaurants where they live. Personally, I feel that this falls in the same category as 'no good schools' or 'no good schools' in the area where you live -- 'no good Chinese restaurants' in the area!.....Just kidding!

Recently, this couple (readers) attended a 'Far East Food Festival' at the Park Plaza in their city. And they were kind enough to send me a review of all the dishes they had. Since I grew up in the same city, I have to admit that things have definitely become better, judging from the wide array of delicacies available at this fest. When I was growing up, there were no Chinese restaurants there; a couple of eating joints did include some Chinese food on their menus, but that was mainly restricted to the standard sweet-and-sours and chow-meins. And nobody had heard of a Far East Festival!

Getting back to the review, this festival served Chinese, Thai, Indonesian and fusion delicacies. The starters included Chicken Chilli Szechuan, Cottage Cheese Thai Style and Honey Glazed Oriental Fried Vegetables and were all well prepared. But the main course was, overall, a let down. The Chicken Randang and Claypot Oriental Vegetable were not good at all. The Eight Treasures Vegetable,  Vegetable and Pepper Noodles and the Vegetable Nasi Goreng were just ok. They enjoyed only the Soy Chilli Lamb. The dessert selection was scarce. Considering this array of food, it is a pity that the dishes didn't taste so good. If the goal was to introduce people to flavours of the Far East, they should have hired a better chef.

The only dish in the entire food fest worth mentioning was the Orange-Ginger-Chocolate Gateaux with Tamarind Chilli Sauce. The couple was impressed with this as the flavours were unique and delicious. The pairing of the Tamarind Chilli Sauce with a chocolate cake was fusion cuisine at its best.

One of their prime issues with the dishes available at this festival was that almost everything had an overdose of soy sauce. I guess due to the wide variety of specialities from different countries on the table, there was an expectation that food at the Park Plaza would not fall prey to the stereotypical soy-sauce-trap. 

Despite the overall poor review given to this festival, I am happy. I am happy that people in this city where I grew up, have become more open to new kinds of cuisine. I am happy that quality restaurants are taking the initiative to make foreign flavours available to locals. Ohhh there is hope yet!