One-Stop food bazaar at MaQan Food Fest

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.

Open daily from 10am to 10pm with Free Entry at the space adjacent to Angsana Johor Baru Mall.