The art of making gum paste flowers

By YIP YOKE TENG

teng@thestar.com.my

THE pleasure offered by a daintily decorated cake begins even before one bites into it. It makes one happy and pleased at the prospect of savouring the delicacy, and persuades one to take the time to enjoy the finer things in life.

Exquisite: Degreef has won several awards with this Carolns Cake.

As cakes are often used as the centrepiece in functions, their decorations are becoming more elaborate and artistic. And, one of the best ways to adorn cakes is by using gum paste flowers.

Gum paste is an edible material made of icing sugar, egg white and tragacanth powder, which makes the dough stretchy.

The dough can be moulded into refined works, especially flowers, that will awe viewers with their life-like appearance.

Gum paste flowers are widely used in European countries to make cakes look stunning. So popular is it that baking buffs compare the creativity and refinement of their gum paste works in competitions.

In Malaysia, too, gum paste decoration is attracting more interest and those who want to learn more can now do so with an expert in sugar artistry, Tina Lee Degreef from Canada.

At the invitation of Ti-Ratana Penchala Community Centre, Degreef will be conducting two workshops on gum paste flowers — one for beginners and the other, intermediate — in Kuala Lumpur on March 13 and 14, as well as March 20 and 21.

The workshops will be held at 211, Jalan Tun Razak, 1st Floor, Dua Residency Annexe (adjacent to the US embassy) from 10am to 5pm on each day. The course fee is RM1,200 per workshop, inclusive of RM300 worth of cutters (tools to cut the dough), lunch and tea.

The proceeds will be used to fund the community centre’s charity work with the focus on single mothers. Degreef is rendering her services for free.

“Our ultimate objective is to enable the women to earn an income with this special skill, and to set up a corporation to sell the art works for them,” Degreef said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur recently.

Degreef, who was the president and director of the Canadian Society of Sugar Artistry, was actively teaching the subject and has written for magazines specialising in cakes and sugar craft.

She has also won many international awards for her cakes as well as exquisite cake decorations.

Durable: The bouquet of roses Degreef made for her mother’s birthday eight years ago.

Now based in Canada, Degreef, who comes back to Malaysia — the land of her birth — twice a year for a holiday, had wanted to impart her knowledge of the sugar craft to her acquaintances here.

At a demonstration recently, Degreef showed us the soft yet spongy texture of gum paste, dripped several drops of food colouring into a bit of the paste and rolled it out into a thin sheet.

She then used a plastic cutter to cut out a piece in the shape of a petal, softened its edges with a round-tipped stick, and made it frilly with a toothpick.

“It’s that easy, but these simple steps can lead to refined works — not only of flowers, but also figurines and any other article. What you can make with it is limited only by your creativity,” she said.

In fact, she is using the same techniques in her new hobby — making jewellery using cold porcelain and metal clay.

The works can be kept for years in dry conditions and illustrated her point by showing a bouquet of roses she had used on her mother’s birthday cake eight years ago!

The results of using gum paste are more intricate compared with those made of royal icing and fondant, Degreef said.

Degreef has loved the art since she first learnt it in 1999.

“It helps me smell the roses. Making gum paste flowers helps me to look at flowers in a different way — I see the details, noticing the nuances that I would otherwise overlook.

“It makes me appreciate nature even more, and it helps me release stress,” she added.

Places for the workshops are limited. For reservations or enquiries, call Honey Khoo or Chui Peng at 03-7784 9002 (office hours) or Catherine at 012-231 8910. Participants are advised to bring paper, pen and apron to the workshop.

Restaurant serves authentic Italian fare

By ESTHER CHANDRAN
Photos by AZLINA ABDULLAH

estherc@thestar.com.my

DELUCCA, Ground Floor,
Office Tower, One Residency,
Jalan Mesui, Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2144 6545
Business hours: Monday, 5.30pm to midnight,
Tuesday to Sunday, 11.30am to 3pm,
5pm to midnight, Friday and Saturday,
11.30am to 3pm, 5pm to 2am.

THE glass panelled exterior is all the invitation one needs to walk through its doors for a taste of Delucca.

Styled to exude a contemporary feel, the restaurant is an interesting find in this precinct abundant with Italian restaurants.

Rich offering: The Delucca special featuring the calzone with mozzarella, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, beef salami, artichokes and gorgonzola cheese.

Nearby in Changkat Bukit Bintang and Jalan Ceylon, popular Italian outlets do booming business, dishing out likeable Italian favourites that keep customers coming back for more.

Being in an area with so many competitors, spurs on Delucca’s owners because here, they are at home among neighbours.

“Italian food is popular around the world and in Malaysia for its likeable taste and use of healthy ingredients like olive oil and herbs,” said operations director Firas Sowiedan.

Director Sen Soon-Mun added: “There’s a lot more to Italian food than spaghetti and pizza and in this enclave alone, there are about seven Italian restaurants.

“We felt it was time to bring something new to the table in terms of Italian cuisine.”

With their foolproof plan, Delucca’s six partners have delivered to KLites a place that’s comfortable and classy without being too overbearing.

Black tagliatelle: Marea Nera is a plate of squid ink tagliatelle with mixed seafood in vodka cream sauce at Delucca.

And of course, Delucca’s niche lies in its delectable dishes and impressive old and new world wine selection.

The focal part of this elegant place is the blue-tiled bar dominating as the centerpiece, injecting a shock of brightness to the interior with comfy bar stools for customers to feel right at home with the bartenders and their bevy of drinks.

Situated at the entrance, the island bar gives the outlet its casual allure.

To the right is a stage, hosting jazz musicians and singers on weekends.

Having had a taste of Delucca’s fare before this, I was ready for an onslaught of Italian food.

Yummy treat: The Ravioli allo Zafferano e Noci at Delucca is a serving of ravioli stuffed with ricotta and spinach served with creamy saffron walnuts sauce.

Tuscany chef Nicola Carradori had pasta on his mind for us because of the 11 types of fresh pasta made in-house.

The light pink Pasta Rosa — pink tagliatelle tossed in porcini mushrooms, fresh basil, mascarpone cheese in pink vodka sauce beckoned us for a try.

The sinfully rich tagliatelle dish (RM34) is chef Carradori’s mother’s recipe.

“It is a simple dish with tomato paste that gives the pasta its colour and porcini, mascarpone, vodka and cream add flavour to the dish,” chef Carradori said.

As it would be pastas all night long, we were cautious not to eat too much right from the start.

However, the Crespelle Vege­tarian (crepes baked with mixed Mediterranean vegetable in bechamel and tomato sauce) was light and was easily finished off.

The Ravioli Allo Zafferano e Noci (RM34) — ravioli stuffed with ricotta and spinach served with creamy saffron walnut sauce was yet another vegetarian dish. By now I was convinced that the chef was probably Catholic and observing the month of Lent.

I soon changed my mind when the Marea Nera was served.

Although the Marea Nera may seem intimidating because of its colour, Sen said Europeans and Japanese enjoyed the black pasta fare.

The squid ink tagliatelle was yet another creamy version with mixed seafood and vodka cream sauce.

Somehow, my taste buds fancied the Black Ink Pasta with Crabmeat on the previous menu which is no longer available.

A pasta dish that is not seen every day is the likeable Trofie al Pesto.

This tiny twirled Liguria style pasta is tossed in pesto and olive oil and enhanced with French beans and potato.

Other hand-made pastas available are tagliolini, gnocchi, pappardelle and agnolotti.

Tired of too much vegetarian dishes, we welcomed the sizeable Delucca Special calzone (RM36).

Packed with semi-soft mozzarella, fragrant mushrooms, sweet sundried tomato, beef salami, artichokes and veined Italian blue cheese gorgonzola, the calzone revealed a tasty amalgamation of flavours to complete our Italian gastronomic adventure.

With the Panna Cotta unavailable that night, we indulged in Delucca’s version of the Italian dessert Tiramisu (RM20) and Rum Baba (RM20), a dessert with bite-sized sponge soaked in rich rum served with mini fruit salad and vanilla ice cream.

Delucca, which means off Lucca in Italy is certainly dishing up riveting favourites off the Tuscanian town!

Tasty cili sumbat

FOOD TRAIL
By SAM CHEONG

HELLO folks and welcome to this week’s edition of the Food Trail.

Firstly, I would like to take a mail-call from reader Azman Abdul Latif from Seremban who wanted to know how he can source for some older articles on the Food Trail published by The Star.

Okay Azman, we have an online library service where old articles are kept.

Successful: Hassan’s nasi campur outlet in USJ10/1, Subang Jaya is usually packed to the brim during lunch hour.

I understand that it’s a paid subscription and for more details, you can contact our library and resource centre in Menara Star, Petaling Jaya.

Moving on, James Cheah from Bandar Puteri Puchong wanted to know if we can feature some German pubs in Puchong.

“Dear Sam, I have been a regular customer at two German pubs around Puchong and they serve really good pork knuckles. I recommend you to try it out as it benefits your readers.”

I’ve been to all of them and had a great time eating there. Unfortunately, the Food Trail covers mainly street fare.

Restaurant reviews are conducted by my colleagues on the Eating Out column.

That said, this week’s topic is Kelantanese fast food; basically their nasi campur.

My wife Michelle had recommended Restoran Hassan in Jalan USJ 10/1 in the Taipan area, Subang Jaya.

Hearty lunch: A combination of east coast dishes and ayam kampung goreng at RM12 a helping.

According to her, the ayam kampung goreng there is worth the money.

To further verify this, I asked an old friend Zakaria Abdullah or Pak Zakaria who is an old timer who resides in USJ11.

“Eh Sam, the shop your wife has mentioned is actually a Kelantanese outlet. They serve a decent fare and prepare some really tasty east coast dishes.

“But don’t expect the offerings to be spicy, much of the cooking is sweet,” he said.

I took his cue and decided to check out this makan place which is located in one of the busiest parts of Subang Jaya. But parking in this part of the township is a nightmare.

I suggest car pooling and using the multi-level car park around this area.

When I arrived at the makan place, the first thing I noticed, was the word ‘Nasi Ayam Goreng Kampung’.

Lots of choice: Customers queueing up at the outlet’s selfservice counter.

So, without much hesitation, I asked one of the staff members there if they serve chicken rice.

“Eh, takdo la bang, kami cuma ado nasi panah,” he said in a Kelantanese-Malay accent (No, we only have plain white rice served hot).

And when I looked at the dishes, I immediately zoomed-in on a tray filled with cili sumbat. This is a typical east coast dish with a hollowed piece of chilli stuffed with fish meat and grated coconut.

I also noticed the kerabu ulam and wasted no time scooping it up.

And at the end of the counter, there was a spread of fried chicken.

My pickings were four dishes, three vegetables and a piece of fried chicken.

The vegetables were as tasty as they looked and I must say that the cili sumbat really lived up to expectations.

As for the fried chicken, it was cold and rather stale. For a man my size, I could easily gobble down a few pieces.

But eating in this shop is not cheap. For the four dishes with rice and a glass of iced lime tea, I was charged RM12.80.

The good cili sumbat made up for this expensive lunch fare and at the cash register, I was told that Restoran Hassan is open from lunch hour till late at night.

Now, one last juicy bit from this outing is the fact that the owner of this makan place is one of the most successful bumiputra entrepreneurs in Subang Jaya.

The businessman and his crew of workers actually live around my neighbourhood in USJ26 and with the large house and fancy cars that they own, I’d say that Hassan has done really well.

For you gearheads out there, the lat-long coordinates to this Kelantanese makan place are: N 03 02 876, E 101 35 088.

A little bit of everything

By TAN KARR WEI

karrwei@thestar.com.my

UYEN JAPANESE RESTAURANT,
Lot F9, 1st Floor, Centrepoint,
Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya
Tel: 03-7725 9688
Business hours: 11.30am to 3.00pm (lunch)
and 6pm to 11pm (dinner) daily.

WHEN the Japanese restaurant that he frequented was to be closed down, businessman Larry Loo decided to buy over the place and run it himself.

“We live in this area and my wife and children love Japanese food, so we used to come here quite often,” said Loo, 41.

Creamy: One of the Uyen signature dishes from its a la carte menu is the Yaki Ringo, which features scallops and mushroom in a hollowedout apple, topped with a creamy sauce and grilled.

He offered to take over the restaurant when the previous owner wanted to give it up about half a year ago.

Now renamed the Uyen Japanese Restaurant, the outlet has retained some of the items on the a la carte menu while head chef C.K. Wong is whipping up new dishes.

“I sampled many types of food when I was on business trips abroad and sometimes, I couldn’t find what I’d tasted when I came back to Malaysia, so I work with the chefs to re-create some of those dishes,” said Loo, who has since also started the Ocha Japanese Restaurant & Cafe from scratch at Menara PGRM in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur.

For connoisseurs of Japanese cuisine who would like to try a bit of everything, the Uyen Restaurant weekend dinner buffet could be the answer.

“We have about 70 different dishes for the buffet and we occasionally change the items for more variety,” Loo said.

There is a counter piled with different sushi and sashimi and the chef will gladly make other items, like hand rolls, to order.

From the grill: Among the new items on the outlet’s a la carte menu is this grilled squid.

“Our fresh raw oysters are also very popular with the customers,” Loo said.

Besides the various appetisers, main dishes and soba noodles, there is also a Sukiyaki or hot pot at the buffet table with fresh vegetables, tofu and meat.

Out on the balcony, there is a counter that serves yakitori (grilled skewers of salmon, prawns, squid and chicken) and tempura (prawns and vegetables dipped in batter and deep-fried).

“These items taste better when cooked just before eating,” Loo said.

For the sweet-toothed, there is a selection of desserts, including jellies, cakes and fruits.

The buffet dinner is available on Saturdays and Sundays and is priced at RM49.90+ for adults with a 50% discount for children between four and 12 years old.