Food Explorer & Home Chef
This Chinese New Year, MAGGI pays tribute to the hands, hearts and stories behind every reunion table – especially the home cooks taking on the meaningful task of preparing festive dishes for family and loved ones. As young Malaysians step into hosting roles for the …
Four Seasons Hotel Kuala Lumpur welcomes Chinese New Year with a burst of vibrant celebrations from Jan 15 to March 3. Yun House anchors the festive celebrations with a refined Cantonese Chinese New Year dining experience. Guests can also enjoy festive menus at Curate and …
Tiger Beer kicked off the Chinese New Year (CNY) with an early Tiger Town celebration, a multi-day and multi-city event. The returning festival, now expanded to Penang, launched over the weekend at LaLaport Bukit Bintang City Centre, KL.
The launch ceremony set the tone for the evening. Members of HEINEKEN Malaysia’s management team struck a ceremonial gong, followed by a display of Tiger rockets and firecracker. A lion performance, offering a traditional blessing of energy and good fortune for the year ahead, completed the opening.
Tiger Town reimagined the CNY gathering as an immersive, high-energy experience, bringing together live music, interactive challenges, and a vibrant local market in one festive space.
In Kuala Lumpur, the stage was powered by the high-voltage energy of acts like the popular performance group 3P, festive favourite Chang Yong and the charismatic Joe Chang, and specially curated sets by An Livehouse.
Beyond the stage, Tiger Town featured themed games inspired by the brand’s Dare to Charge Forward spirit. Built on coordination, speed, and teamwork, these squad-based challenges focus on reflexes and collaboration, turning friendly competition into shared moments of collective play.
Developed with Lesgo Market, the curated market surrounds the main stage, showcasing local makers and eateries that reflect the same grassroots spirit Tiger champions. Anchored in local creativity and craft, the market adds depth to the experience while grounding Tiger Town in a sense of community.
Tiger Town also features the exclusive Tiger x atmos: Spirit of the Tiger collection. This collaboration with the Tokyo streetwear label fuses traditional Japanese calligraphy with bold, graphic storytelling inspired by the raw energy of Asian street fronts. The collection translated the Dare to Charge Forward spirit into street-ready style and is also available at selected atmos retail stores, and online.
“Tiger Town is about starting the year with courage,” said Julie Kuan, Marketing Manager of Tiger Beer Malaysia. “Chinese New Year is a time for coming together, and Tiger Town brings that spirit to life through music, games and shared moments, with Tiger Beer enjoyed as part of the celebration.”
Tiger Town continues at Gurney Paragon Mall, George Town, Penang, from Feb 13-15.
Consumers can pre-register for general admission tickets via https://tigercny.tigerbeer.com/en/event/ on first come first served basis.
Oversea Restaurant is set to dazzle with its Chinese New Year offerings, available from Jan 5 till March 3. This year’s festive concept is “Golden Horse Embraces a Golden Start”, and Oversea Restaurant’s season offerings reflect a heartfelt wish for a year filled with promise, …
EQ welcomes the return of Golden Phoenix pop-up restaurant, the hotel’s heritage Cantonese and Szechuan restaurant, revived each Lunar New Year to honour a legacy spanning more than five decades. Once a celebrated icon of the original Hotel Equatorial in the 1970s, Golden Phoenix was renowned for …
Daesam Sikbang is a welcome contender to the Subang Korean food scene. Translated to mean ‘great pork belly restaurant’, there’s no mistaking what meat is the focus here.
It offers a simple bbq menu with three choices – frozen pork belly (naeng dong samgyeopsal), marinated pork belly (naeng nyeom samgyeop) and pork bulgogi. Each set comes with a generous assortment of 8 types of banchan, refillable except for the steamed egg. All freshly made, I liked the kimchi, pickled radish and japchae especially, though I enjoyed them all.
Best part is, someone else does the cooking for you so you don’t need to stress or get messy. Cooking is done over a hot plate, covered with foil. Daesam uses imported female pork for its frozen meat that’s more tender and naturally flavourful, only lightly seasoned with pepper while cooking. Loved that they also cooked onions and Kimchi to go with the meat as well.
Bulgogi, while nothing extraordinary, was especially tasty as it was prepared on the spot. Seasoned with gochujang and ganjang, the marinated sweetish/spicy pork was a flavour bomb, perfect when eaten as a ssam, meat wrapped with lettuce, together with garlic, kimchi and ssamjang. (Ave RM35/36 per set)
We also had grilled pork intestines – much like the crispy ones sprinkled over pork porridge – except that these were coated with a spicy sweet sauce (RM65). Play on texture that’s chewy, slight crunch, this was another winner, albeit a little pricey. Kimchi Mandu (dumplings) is a little different, smaller than most, but more to go around as it comes in a set of 10 pieces.
We also had comforting sundubu jiggae (RM29), brimming hot with clams and soft tofu. Rice is add on.
It was full house when we went, and people were still coming in whenever a table was cleared. Closes at 11pm so this place is good for late dinner/supper.
There’s another branch in Desa Sri Hartamas, KL.
Add: 65 Jalan SS15/ 5A Subang Jaya, Selangor. hp: 011-1623 9725
Not another mala hotpot place, I’m thinking. But Yu Jia Fish hotpot in SS2, PJ, was quite different. Rather than the usual deep sunken soup pot, this comes in an apparatus with charcoal in the centre funnel providing the heat. Apparently Penang-inspired, the soup base …
Sendo Ichi Seafood (M) Sdn Bhd was established to meet the growing demand for premium fresh and frozen seafood in Malaysia’s HoReCa and retail sectors. The company specialises in blue fin tuna, air flown fresh fish from Japan and other high quality frozen seafood including …
Hidden from view from the main road but still very much part of the Mont Kiara thoroughfare, Mustard Fields by Zukkini sits in a cozy, classy bungalow behind a row of shops. Highly rated cafe, the interior is stylish and retro vibes, packaged with a modern approach and given a nod to nature. A visit at night reveals a totally different ambience altogether, one that’s definitely no less inviting.
Fusion at its best, many dishes are familiar but given a tweak, with a focus on fresh local ingredients to infuse an element of surprise to Asian and Western-inspired dishes.
From the pasta menu, the Aglio Olio Tiger Prawns doesn’t have any hidden cards, but was well-executed in taste, came with three big tiger prawns, given a pop of spice with bird’s eye chilli and topped with ebiko.
From the After Dark small plates section, we had:
Otak-otak in pate form, the addition of cream cheese making it creamier and richer – weirdly, it works – to be spread on Thai rice crackers. We had charcoal sago crackers.
Grilled pulut – glutinous rice, with braised Australian beef, wrapped in daun kadok, grilled and paired with green chilli chumichurri. Reminded me of the Malay kuih, pulut panggang – very different and innovative, very good!
Umai – raw Spanish mackerel, doused in lime juice, with shallots and chilli – similar to Spanish ceviche. The addition of kedondong (fruit) and jambu give it a nice crunch. Interesting though I couldn’t appreciate the milky santan (coconut milk) taste. Prefer it with just the citrus flavours.
Instead of a birthday cake, we opted for kaya-misu, their own spin on tiramisu. Nice take, though I still would put my money on a traditional coffee tiramisu.
They do have a commendable variety of cakes to choose from. We wanted to eat light so didn’t look at the Large Plate offerings, but they do have Western fare such as Fish and Chips and Grilled Spring Chicken as well as local dishes such as Chicken Rice, Johor Laksa and Nasi Kerabu.
What I really like is it’s secluded location – great for dates, not that noisy – prices are slightly steeper, but that’s KL for you. They also got signature cocktails, and it’s a great place for coffe and cake, brunch meet-ups, a cozy date or even a private work session. They’ve got an upstairs loft as well that serves well for private events.
Add: B.Lot MK, Block B, Shop 3, Lot 1908, Jln Kiara 5, Mont Kiara, Kuala Lumpur. hp: 012-967 9163.
A seemingly unlikely spot for dai chow (big fry) dishes, Hugo’s Kitchen is housed in a nice air-cond restaurant in Aman Suria, but know that food is good, though at slightly higher than average prices. One of 3 brothers from the Cheow Sang Bak Kut …