Ceylon Continental goes Malaysian

Demi HEWAMANNA

The first week of November itself is coming to an end and it shows how time is just flying through. The month has also marked the beginning of many events to come in hotels around Colombo and one such event that is being celebrated among all hotels during this week is World Spice Food Festival 2011.

The Ceylon Continental Hotel in celebration of the World Spice Food Festival is hosting the Malaysian Food Festival till November 6 at the Emerald Restaurant from 7 pm to 11 pm. The food festival will feature a dazzling variety of delicious ethnic dishes highlighting Malaysia’s authentic cuisine which replicates the country’s individuality and social blueprint.

To give guest’s a true authentic Malaysian feeling, Ceylon Continental brought down Chef Louie Joseph who is the Executive Sous Chef at Pacific Regency Hotel Suites specializing in F&B and restaurant services.

Speaking to ZEST, Chef Louie, who is a very friendly and full of homour said that this is his first time in Sri Lanka. “People are good but the traffic is bad”, he said jokingly.

“Spices are all the same, but less and Malaysians don’t like too much spicy food. We use pandum leaf (lemon grass), small chillies, cinnamon and others. The main meal of Malaysia is rice and curry, which is very similar to Sri Lankan cuisine. Also Malaysian cuisine is more coconut cooking with lemon grass”, Chef Louie said when speaking about the food. A must try dish of Chef Louie’s at the festival is the Lamb curry with mustard seed.

As all, becoming a Chef was not his first job in mind, he actually wanted to be a Police Inspector but all that changed and when he decided what he wanted, he got the full encouragement from his father who is also a chef. His experience in the field of food and hotels spans for more than 25 years. His cooking styles go from Western, Indian, Mexican, Fusion, Japanese and of course Malay. At the Pacific Regency Hotel Suites, Chef Louie oversees the kitchen operations when his hands are not busy. And when Chef Louie is off from both cooking and kitchen operations its Family time.

He is married with four children, with oldest being 21 and the youngest 5 years old.

An agreement that his wife has made with him is that when he is home on his off days or holidays, he should do all the cooking and it has to be Western style.

Chef Louie Joseph is an active member of the chef association in Malaysia and has participated in many culinary events around the world. He has being in the field as early as 1982 in all grand hotels such as Equatorial Hotel (Kuala Lumpur), Micasa Hotel Apartments, Sucusa Hotel Apartments, Genting View Resort, T.G.I. Fridays and many more. He has also won many awards represented the Malasyian National Team and won a Gold medal.