It was quite a busy and baffling day for me. After attending one review and one beauty event earlier, I had an accident. Still fuming with the careless driver who hit my car, I encountered some terribly rude PR personnel and some hotel staff. I was praying that the day won’t get worst, and thankfully, it did not…I think. I arrived in Berjaya Hotel just in time for my next misadventure of the day; sampling the Nordic Cuisine with Chef Tareq Taylor.

Tareq Taylor’s Nordic Flavors was presented by Asian Food Channel & Berjaya University College of Hospitality at Sampling on Fourteen Berjaya Hotel

My table. With my pseudonym placed neatly on it. Bloggers’ seating was somewhat scattered that day. Noted that some blogger friends were seated at different tables but surprisingly mainstream media had tables of their own. I was about to get rather grumpy as I’m not really in the mood of mingling around after such a bad day, but was blessed enough to be seated with my friend Jacinta and Sidney of Big Boys Oven who was generous with flattery for my new look throughout the night. 🙂

Here is the man who was responsible for our pleasure that night, Chef Tareq Taylor. He is a Swedish chef, and has over 25 years of culinary experience behind him. Other than starring in Tareq Taylor’s Nordic Cookery on the Asian Food Channel, the chef has also appeared on Swedish state television’s popular cooking show “Trädgårdsonsdag”.

He has worked with a variety of world cuisines ranging from French, Italian, Japanese, and of course, Swedish.

Coming from a mixed heritage (his mother is half-English and half-Swedish, and his father is from Palestine) the chef has lived and travelled all over the world during his career and brought all his cultural and worldwide influences into how he works. Tareq has also authored three best-selling books in Sweden published by FormaBooks.

When he isn’t filming his television programmes or writing best-selling cookbooks, Tareq runs the Slottsträdgårds Cafe (Castle Garden Café) in the Royal Park in Malmö, Sweden.

We commenced our fine dining experience that night with
Beetroots & Pickled Mustard Seeds. It was elegantly presented. My picture does no justice. Taste wise? Well, it was delicious and made a good starter for me though I’m not a fan of beetroots and mustard seed.

Beef Yellow Onion & Potatoes; a pair of thick cut beef and topped with yellow onion, potatoes, dash of white sauce and petite herb leafs. The beef was tender and juicy with natural flavours while the potatoes complimented the dish well. I must say though, that being a true blue Malaysian who is used to food that is bursting with flavours, I find that this dish is a tad too bland to my liking.

Potato & Cauliflower Soup with White Truffles was absolutely divine. Not a drop was spared from my bowl. Thick cauliflower puree was topped over eryngii mushroom and white truffle. The soup was creamily luxurious.

My poison of the night, Lamb Lovage & Dried Apricots. The lamb was done medium rare and definitely agrees with me. Unlike the beef dish earlier, this one was infused with flavours. The accompanying apricot was divine too. A somewhat humble dish with an interesting twist.

Time was envious and it was time for us to end our fine dining experience with dessert; the moan inducing Coconut Pannacotta with Caramelised White Chocolate & Raspberries. This was almost an aphrodisiac to me. The pannacotta was silky and chilled well and the fresh raspberries complemented the coconut and chocolate flavour perfectly and being someone with a sweet tooth, this brought me pleasure more that the rest of the dishes that I sampled that night. Ruefully, there was only one serving. I could do a few of these fine pannacotta. 😉

The dishes were all paired with Jacob Creek’s wine but due to health limitations and restrictions, I had to decline and strictly wash my food off with water and juice instead. 🙂

Dining with Chef Tareq Taylor is indeed a memorable experience and I don’t think I can forget it anytime soon.

This event is made possible by Asian Food Channel and Berjaya University College of Hospitality.