US Potato Culinary Festival KL 2013: Going Wild with 38 Titillating US Potato Dishes!

One Potato, Two Potato, Titillating us with 38 US Potato Creations!

Talk about spud invasion! A recent invite to the US Potato Culinary Festival KL 2013 had my jaw dropped as I ogled at a long list of creations made using my favorite root vegetable, the potato!!

Potato lovers alert… 16 leading Malaysian chefs show off their prowess in the US Potato Culinary Festival KL 2013 organized by the US Potato Board. Come this June, The US Potato Culinary Festival KL 2013 celebrates the launch of more than 38 dishes in 13 F&B outlets comprising restaurants, eateries, pubs and hotels etc.  These F&B outlets are set to serve customers a wide and interesting repertoire of dishes comprising mains, appetizers and desserts using US frozen potatoes as the key ingredient.

 

From 1st to 30^th June, customers at these 13 outlets will have the opportunity to taste US potatoes used in various types of Malaysian fusion, western and eastern dishes. The objective of this festival is to promote the enjoyment of US frozen potatoes in a variety of innovative menu items. When one thinks about frozen potatoes, the first impression is probably Shoestring Fries, Curly Fries or Potato Wedges which often accompany steaks or burgers. This is about to change as there are just no boundaries what one can do with frozen potatoes… at least from what I can see here at the festival!

Malaysia is a melting pot of cuisines. As such, I wasn’t surprise to see all the various variations of potato dishes from all our cultures. Going through some of them, I was really impressed with the creativity and effort put out by all the participating chefs from the 13 F&B outlets. The versatile spud is showcased from the very first appetizer course to main and snacks before finishing with potato desserts. US frozen processors offer the widest variety of menu-enhancing frozen potato products from which to choose. Malaysians will have the opportunity to taste different types and shapes of US frozen potatoes during this promotion from whole frozen baked potatoes to specialty fry products.

We got an opportunity to sample some of these creations at a special media event held at the Sime Darby Convention Centre for the auspicious launch of the festival. The event took off with several speeches by several US Potato Board Representatives and Committee Heads together with US Agricultural Attache.

Group photo with all the F&B participating chefs and the US Potato Board team

 

Be prepared for a long post of potato dishes…

BADBOY COOKS

by Chef Ken Wong

BARA ONE BISTRO

by Chef Hairy

CRAVING KITCHEN & CAFÉ

by Chef Koh Thong Seng

 

REST HALIA

by Chef Mohd Faisal

 

SECRET OF LOUISIANA

by Chef Elvin Goh

 

MARINI 57

by Chef Logan

 

MOVIDA KITCHEN

by Chef Pele Kuah

 

SUKA F&B RESTAURANT

by Chef Jacson Khoo

 

PADDINGTON PANCAKE

by Chef Muda Muhammad

 

SAFFRON BRASSERIES

by Chef Saravanan Supramaniam

 

WARISAN CAFÉ

by Chef Nizam

 

JAGOYA

by Chef Sixtus Bakansing

 

MUZIUM CAFÉ

by Chef Jeff Wang

Though every dish oozes with creativity, dessert takes the cake for me! The US Potato Crème Brulee was deliciously beautiful at sight and taste. I detected a mild potato note in the crème but it seems to work out really nice. I never expected to like Deep Fried Steak Cut US Potato Sugar and Sesame Seed Coated but I really love it. Obviously inspired by the toffee coated sticky Chinese dessert, potato seemed to taste really well sweet and caramelly. Making potato into dessert certainly changes my perception and I doubt I will ever think of the spud as before!

                   

Here’s a little Potato fact I’ve learned at the event:

·         Idaho & Washington in US is the top growers of potato for world wide

·         There are over 20,000 varieties of potatoes but only 2,000 are commercially produced

·         Potatoes are gluten free

·         Contains lots of vitamins, potassium, dietary fiber and antioxidant power

So hurry to these outlets to enjoy US potatoes like never before!  For more information on the US Potato Culinary Festival KL 2013, please call Kent Low or Eddie Saw at (03) 8070-7216.

*More pictures available at my Facebook: Chasing Food Dreams

** Read last year’s Marvel-licious US Mashed Potato Bonanza here