We Had Dinner In Penang’s Iconic Khoo Kongsi And It Was Beautiful
We don't know which is better: the view or the food.
By Esther Chung — 02 Oct 2017, 03:49 PM
Earlier this month, we were invited to attend a special dinner event hosted by Johnnie Walker
The XR 21 Mastery was launched to celebrate John Walker & Sons' Scotch whisky of the same name. This is going to be an annual event which allows whisky fans to enjoy specially crafted local food, paired with the John Walker & Sons XR 21 - which is drawn from extremely rare Johnnie Walker reserves and aged for at least 21 years.
Specially prepared food sounds great right? But that's not the best part - this year's event was going to be held in Penang.
Being the Malaysians that we are, we went “OMG YES” because food, and there was no way we were going to say no to that (especially Penang food)!
According to the invite, the dinner event will be held in Khoo Kongsi
Yes, the Khoo Kongsi. The hundred year-old clanhouse situated in the heart of George Town that is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
We were quite surprised by this. None of us knew that you were allowed to host private events in the historical building. At the same time, we were quite curious as to how it would turn out to be.
We reached Khoo Kongsi a little earlier and saw that they had transformed the opera stage into a dining hall
One of the most notable structures in Khoo Kongsi is its opera stage. On that day, the stage has been converted into a fine dining space. The tables were really nicely set: smooth black cloth with polished silver cutlery and crystal clear glasses.
There was even a box of flowers in the middle of the table, put together with a lamp that used the XR 21 bottle as a base. In short, quite atas lah.
The guests' names were printed on gold cards. Super classy.
Nothing could have prepared us for the view that was right before us from the comfort of our seats
This was. The. View. From our dining area.
No joke.
They even had performers singing and dancing to classic Chinese songs (think Shanghai in the 1920s). It was so amazing.
Because we're not that tall, and there were so many people, this was what we were seeing most of the time.
But isn't it beautiful?
Then there was the food, which was prepared by two top chefs from the region
The menu, which was inspired by the local culture in Penang and its homegrown ingredients, was put together by Chefs Spider Kong (in black) and Jeffrey (in white). The former is the owner and chef of Soul Food restaurant; whereas the latter is the Head Pastry Chef of Metisser Dessert Parlour - both of which are popular restaurants in Penang.
Chef Spider Kong was in charge of the appetisers and main course, which consisted of Tiger Prawn Kerabu, Chicken Ravioli, and a choice of Seared Barramundi or Tamarind Lamb.
But we have to say, it's the dessert that stole the show
Conceptualised and prepared by Chef Jeffrey, the Ambar Tree was a dessert served in the form of an amra fruit on a plate with branches painted with edible gold.
Atas right?
In case you're wondering what amra fruit is, it's actually what we call buah kedondong in Malaysia.
The buah kedondong was cut into cubes and coated in a layer of Earl Grey tea-infused chocolate mousse. The dessert is then moulded into the shape of the fruit. We were also told that the best way to enjoy the Ambar Tree was to pair it with a glass of John Walkers & Sons XR 21 Scotch whisky, served neat.
It was too pretty to eat, BUT IT HAD TO BE DONE. So here's a photo of the 'destroyed' dessert:
So satisfying. It was really, really delicious when paired with the XR 21 Scotch whisky, with the sourness of the fruit complementing the drink’s subtle honey and vanilla flavours.
All in all, it was a really amazing evening at John Walker & Sons' XR 21 Mastery
The way the Khoo Kongsi was decorated truly brought out its beauty, while respecting the delicacy of the hundred-year-old building. The food was great, and everything on the menu was paired perfectly with the whisky.