The inaugural MaQan Food Festival 2020 kicked off to a
bright and breezy start on Friday morning as the festival village at Angsana Johor Baru Mall
attracted foodie visitors to check out the rows upon rows of food stalls.
 |
| Entrance to the MaQan Food Festival at the space adjacent to Angsana Johor Baru Mall |
This three-day food fest brought together a colourful
cornucopia of popular street food vendors from around the country and especially
Johor, at a convenient one-stop food bazaar.
While posts about exciting food choices are being shared
on social media, readers in JB who are keen to have a taste, had only been
looking at photos and salivating with longing.
Thanks to the organisers of the MaQan Food Fest,
foodies in JB are now presented with the opportunity not only to taste their
much-desired food choices but also to interact with the food vendors whom they
had read about on social media.
 |
| Food trucks and food stalls serving foodie visitors |
I believe many (including me!) were simply spoilt for
choice and found it a challenge to decide on which items to pick and savour from
such a wide collection of popular, attractive and appetising food and
beverages.
The festival village was arranged in a partial alfresco
setting where the aromas from live-cooking stations that were preparing freshly
cooked food, was sent in every direction by the prevailing gusty winds.
Tables with seats were also set up under canopies and
in the open for the foodies to sit down and sample their food in comfort.
 |
| Come! Enjoy a scare at the Luna Land Haunted World! |
Through loudspeakers, I heard a presenter chatting
with a food vendor on stage, doing an interview to introduce and share more
about their food and beverage.
As I listened on, I began to pay closer attention when
this chat was punctuated by background screams from shock and fear…
This made me wonder and my curiosity was piqued about
which type of food or drink that could elicit such a scary response…
Then I spotted a dark shape of a tent with a poster in
White and the words, “Help! Help!” painted in dripping Red (blood?)
 |
| What's that exciting cloud of vapours happening here? |
Next to this poster was a ring of white clothed figures
that resembled spooks with their flowing robes flapping in the wind!
Another loud scream emanating from this tent confirmed
that it was an attraction presented by Luna Land Haunted World to add to the
carnival fun at this food fest!
Satisfied that there were no shocking food items in
the food fest, I continued in my quest to discover some interesting food
choices.
Even as the mouthwatering smells assailed my nostrils,
I was determined to conduct a proper survey of the various stalls and food
trucks – to see the exciting choices – before I fell into temptation and bought
anything that caught my fancy.
 |
| Popia or spring rolls stuffed with Chicken Carbonara Cheese |
Among the vendors with creatively-coined-names were Adam
Boba Milk Tea, Kaya Raya Café, Summer Bytes, Mangga Susu TBS, Butter Kreme
& Roti John U-Turn, Aina D’licious and Snacks Famous HQ.
Just as I was about to turn a corner, I stood rooted
on the spot when I spied a vendor stirring up a cloud of vapours from his
wooden cauldron!
While his young customer waited to be served, we
watched in wonder at the vendor’s dramatic performance to prepare this frozen
dessert made with cereal dipped in liquid nitrogen, which was aptly named
Dragon’s Breath.
It was fascinating to watch as the young customer used
a stick to skewer a colourful cereal ball and put it into his mouth – the cold
of the liquid nitrogen combined with the warmth of his mouth – and released
visible vapours which he blew out of his nose, pretty much like how a dragon
would!
While Dragon’s Breath had its origins in a minibar for
its spectacular effects, I thought it rather interesting to discover this
frozen dessert at the MaQan Food Fest.
From its name, Popia Chicken Carbonara Cheese, I could
tell that this snack was deep-fried spring rolls stuffed with chicken tossed in
carbonara and cheese.
It’s tagline even promised that these spring rolls
would be: Melting in your mouth!
While it was a creative recipe, I thought it was so
typically Malaysian to serve these Chicken Carbonara Cheese spring rolls with a
side of chilli sauce.
 |
| Check out the choices available from Mr Sam You Char Kway! |
Curious to see what a crowd was queuing for, I
discovered Mr Sam You Char Kway, a stall that prepared You Char Kway or deep-fried
dough sticks and served them in its original form or in a wide variety of toppings
and flavours that ranged from sweet to savoury.
 |
| A refreshing drink called Teng Beng Kaw? |
It took me a few minutes to read the list of choices –
and figure out each combination of flavours – and paused to marvel at each
creative recipe until I read that Char Kway here was also served with Cappuccino
Rice and even Mutton Briyani!
At the Rayn Empire Fresh Juice stall, I saw another
queue waiting to buy refreshing tumblers of refreshing Mango Lassi, Soursop
Juice or Green Tea but I guessed their Teng Beng Kaw seemed to be a poor
translation of Teh Peng Kaw, Hokkien dialect for strong iced tea.
 |
| Preparing Nasi Goreng Seafood Wak J & Sheikh |
Over at Warisan Kangsumo, Nasi Goreng Seafood Wak J &
Sheikh, the menu indicated a choice of seafood fried rice with choices like Bawal
Mini (mini pomfret), butterfish, grilled squid or grilled salmon.
I arrived just on time to watch as the ingredients
were added one-by-one to the mountain of steamed white rice before the rice was
stir-fried into a mass of fragrant fried rice, all ready to be served.
There were food trucks for satay and coconut shake and
much more to see but as the crowd was swelling rapidly, I thought it was wise
to backtrack to the yummy shortlisted items that I aimed to get for myself.
And while I was finding my way around the festival village,
I passed the FullTank Johor Baru stall and my eyes were riveted to the floating
forks perched on top of their signature, Flying Noodles!
The friendly sales assistant recommended a serving of their
famous Flying Noodles – the first ever in Malaysia! – and it didn’t take long
for her to convince me to decide on a portion with a side of Grilled Chicken.
 |
| The fascinating floating forks in FullTank Johor Baru's servings of Flying Noodles! |
For your own food festival experience, visit the MaQan
Food Festival on from Feb 7 to 9, organized by MaQan with official partner,
Visit Johor, supported by Visit Johor 2020 and a host of generous sponsors
including Angry Birds Activity Park, Legoland Malaysia Resort, PlayLrn, SPD
Brands and Amari Colours & Rhythms.
No comments:
Post a Comment