The Food Site

Guten Morgan! (Good morning)

Although the Malaysian-German Society (MGS) here has been celebrating Octoberfest for years now, I had never actually made a point to go to it. Somehow I’d either miss it, forget about it or simply did not have the time to go for it.

So, this year, it is my first time I finally managed to go for the German celebration last night which is complete with loads of beer, naturally. Though I have really stopped drinking beer for years (and move on to wines occasionally), I remember loving the smoothness of German beer way back when I used to work at a German pub and restaurant. Coincidentally, the current MGS president is my former boss!

Anyway, here’s a look at the food and beer over at Octoberfest 2008 here:

The first to greet us after entering are of course these lovelies in bottles

These are the more common beer that we can have during normal days. In Octoberfest, we must of course, head for the GOOD stuff!

Now, this is what I call German beer!

As expected, food and drinks at the Octoberfest is hardly cheap eventhough we need to pay entrance fee (masked as donation) of RM25 per person (for non-members of MGS). But I think it is quite okay to pay more for German beer as it is not easy to find some of the brands available here in local pubs..

Someone getting a mug of German bitter from the giant beer can

This beer is particularly smooth, so much so that I almost drank more than I should…what with a toddler in tow, it is not advisable to imbibe in too much alcohol (and let’s not even talk about how my diet is shot with all these extra calories…heheheh).

Now on to the foods…

Gaily decorated gingerbread hearts

Gingerbread hearts is a very German thing, or so I heard and so they have two stalls selling these. I am not a gingerbread fan, as I just can’t stand the strong taste and smell of ginger in a bread, so I merely took pictures of these lovely looking pastry.

The prerequisite German sausage, meatloaf, ham, sauerkraut and potato salad

They have two main stalls selling the almost-compulsory German foot-long sausages, meatloaf, ham, sauerkraut and potato salad. No German event is complete without a meal of these food! We all know about the Germans, their beer and their meat! The set meal consisting of one meat of your choice, sauerkraut and potatoes costs RM15. An additional meat is RM8. So, the plate below costs RM23 which is pretty reasonable considering the huge portion.

German vienna sausage, ham, sauerkraut and potato salad

What can I say? Germans have a taste for the salty so the sausage and ham are quite salty. Not many people likes sauerkraut (fermented cabbage) due to its sourish flavour but I would have to say that combined with the sausage and ham and the potato salad, it makes a good side dish.

Here's a closer look...the portion is more than I could stomach, also due to the saltiness, so I shared this with my husband

Then I scout around and found two other stalls with non-German food…

Grilled Indian-style food - skewered chicken meat with onions

Braised lamb shank

I couldn’t resist the lamb shank so I bought one to-go…

Braised lamb shank with mashed potatoes

The juicy lamb shank served with mashed potatoes

The lamb shank is RM28 per set and I find that it is quite okay too considering it is cooked perfectly. It is tender, juicy and covered in a great brown sauce. Yummy! The mashed potatoes are a bit plain, though. It is merely mashed up boiled potatoes with no additional flavour. I think I could make better ones where I’d add cheese and milk to it to give it a richer taste.

So, that concludes my review of the foods and drinks in Octoberfest.

Auf Wiedersehen! (farewell in German)

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We took some time out and went to the iFoodex on Friday and find that despite my reservations about it being anything great at all, it was not as disappointing as I thought it would be.

As with previous years, it was crowded and this year, there are more stalls and with even a ‘healthy food’ section selling organic food, vitamins, health drinks, etc. And to make things more interesting, they even coincide the event with a Chef’s challenge and a property and home show so there are more things to see.

I did not bother much with the property and home show since most are luxurious homes for the filthy rich and I am only rich in sarcasm not in $$ so forget it. The Chef challenge is pretty interesting enough if you manage to squeeze through the crowds gaping at the busy chefs trying to outdo each other and whipping up a storm.

So, other than the usual canned food (mushrooms, sardines, etc) which are being sold at slightly cheaper rates only, we went around and bought lots of unhealthy snacks…sigh..I have to search for more hiding places to keep it from my son… heheheh…

The bakwa pie (dried meat pie) from Bee Cheng Hiang is one of the foods that we bought. It’s RM10 for 5 pies, okay la considering their bakwa is quite expensive. We also bought their bakhu (dried minced meat) for use as sandwich fillings.

Other than food, they also have stalls selling pots and pans and blenders and other kitchen accessories. However, don’t bet on cheap bargain prices because most aren’t sold cheap. Perhaps a few ringgit cheaper but that’s it. No huge 50% discounts if that’s what you are expecting.

All in, it’s a great way to spend an hour or so browsing through different stalls and checking out stuffs being sold…much like going to an air-conditioned, stuffy and smoky (since some of them cooked within that confined space) pasar malam.

So, next year, I may probably go there again. After all, it is not exactly out of my way…

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