Mid-Autumn YUÈ Mooncake by The Westin Kuala Lumpur

A Euphonic Mid-Autumn Festive with YUÈ Westin Mooncakes

This Mid-Autumn festive, share the tradition of gifting of mooncakes with musical loves. The Westin Kuala Lumpur is bringing much musical joy with the theme of YUÈ for their whimsical mooncake collection this year. A festive that brings family and friends together to honor lunar worship as well as the end of summer harvesting celebration.

With last year’s success of BLOOM Mooncakes (also available this year), Westin has outdo themselves again this year with their YUÈ mooncakes as well as mooncake boxes. Featuring a built-in Bluetooth speaker set in exquisite floral or royal blue with printed motifs, this multi-functional gift box makes an elegant and charming gift this Mid-Autumn for family and friends as well as corporate business gifts.

Thanks to Westin, we were invited to a sneak preview of Westin’s Mooncake this year. Serenaded by harmonious traditional music from Guzheng as well as a presentation of the art of playing Diabolo or Chinese Yo-Yo, it was a beautiful and euphonic event at Five Sen5es.

Even our kids got their opportunity to try the Diabolo!

It’s the perfect pairing of mooncakes and music as one can enjoy Westin’s 7 delightful varieties of mooncakes while playing their preferred music tracks with their phone sync up to the Bluetooth speaker on the gift box!

Westin is offering a mix of classic as well as modern flavours for their whimsical mooncake collection this year. Classic favorites include Lotus Pandan, Pearl of Prosperity, Signature Supreme Mixed Nuts and Red Bean Paste. For those who are health-conscious, there’s the less sweet Low Sugar Plain White

Lotus Paste and Low Sugar Plain White Lotus with Single Yolk.

Westin’s Signature Supreme Mixed Nuts is decadent and nutty, filled with lots of ingredients of grilled chicken meat, chicken floss, dried scallops, seafood sauce, almonds, walnuts and various seeds. A classic favorite among the elderly who enjoys the complex and nutty mooncake perfumed with dried Mandarin peels.

The limelights from Westin this year is their new charcoal Imperial Black as well as their Mini Snow Skin Pure Musang King. The Imperial Black has bamboo charcoal skin encasing a deep and fruity paste of dried longan and dried wolfberry along with lotus paste and seeds. It has just the right balance of sweetness for me and I really enjoyed the longan flavour in this mooncake.

The Mini Snow Skin Pure Musang King was a crowd pleaser with everyone that day. The beautiful yellow snow skin is filled with nothing but pure Musang King Durian flesh. Durian lovers can enjoy the lush and pungent creamy durian with tender snow skin in its purest form.

PRICING AND OFFERS

Westin Mooncakes are available for order from 01 August till 04 October 2017. The YUÈ Mooncake gift boxes and Westin Collectibles BLOOM boxes are offered at very attractive prices, starting from as low as RM 138.00nett per set. Patrons are able to select any of the 4 flavours to make up the purchase of a gift box.

YUÈ Mooncake Gift Box

Baked Skin Flavours RM 168.00nett per set of 4

Mini Snow Skin Pure Musang King RM 240.00nett per set of 4

Westin Collectibles BLOOM Gift Box

Baked Skin Flavours RM 138.00nett per set of 4

Mini Snow Skin Pure Musang King RM 210.00nett per set of 4

Westin Mooncakes can be picked up from Five Sen5es (Level 1) from 01 September 2017 onwards between 10.00am to 10.00pm daily.

Enticing Discounts

Starwood Preferred Guests (SPG) and Beyond Dining members receive 10% discount for YUÈ Mooncake gift box and 15% for Westin Collectibles BLOOM Mooncake gift box during the promotional period.

Free delivery for purchases of 30 boxes and above to one destination within the Klang Valley area.

Bulk purchasers for Westin Collectibles BLOOM Mooncake gift box enjoy:

10% savings for purchasing 25 to 50 boxes

15% savings for purchasing 51 to 100 boxes

20% savings for purchasing 101 to 150 boxes

25% savings for purchasing 151 to 200 boxes

30% savings for purchasing above 201 boxes

*Prices are inclusive of 6% GST and discounts are not accumulative, higher value of discount will be accorded if two or more discounts are applicable.

To book your mooncake gift boxes or for further enquiries, call 03-2773 8338 or email westindining@westin.com

THE WESTIN KUALA LUMPUR

199, Jalan Bukit Bintang

55100 Kuala Lumpur

T +6 03.2731.8333

F +6 03.2731.8000

Website: www.thewestinkualalumpur.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/westin.kl

Tetley Tea – Tea-ing Up with Sebastian Michaelis

The Art of Tea Blending with The Tetley Tea Master

Tea is enjoyed all over the world. Said to originate from Southwest in China, according to Wikipedia, it was introduced to Europe during the 16th century and only became fashionable among Britons in 17th century.

When an invite from Tetley Tea came for a session of The Art of Tea Blending with The Tetley Tea Master, Sebastian Michaelis, it was an invite I couldn’t refuse simply because I have always enjoy my teas. Tetley Tea, the largest tea company in UK and Canada, is also the 2nd largest tea brand globally with over sixty branded tea bags. Despite its popularity internationally, Tetley has only recently reached our shores not too long ago. With 180 years of heritage in perfecting the art of blending tea, Tetley also sources its tea from 11 countries across 3 continents.

Our tea master, Sebastian greeted us the moment we walked into Cocott Restaurant with a charming smile. The world-renowned tea master chatted with us briefly of how he never gets tired enjoying a good cuppa tea! When asked if he has a preference of tea, he aptly replied that he has none simply because he enjoys different tea depending on the time of the day as well as the moment.

Rajat Kumar, Global Head Business Development Tata Global Beverages, kicked off with a speech.

Our tea session began with Sebastian giving us an insight of how tea is cultured all over the world. Tea is made from young leaves and unopened buds of the plant Camellia Sinensis. Doesn’t matter what type of tea it is, all teas comes from the same plant but is processed differently. Due to environment, tea leaves differs in flavour and aroma as well as color.

Tea cultivation is hard work. Tea leaves are still carefully handpick by hands today and is a labor intensive agriculture. Tetley, the founding members of Ethical Tea Partnership, is committed to be socially fair and environmentally sustainable by sourcing 100% of their tea from Rainforest Alliance Certified™gardens. Whether it’s China, India, Africa, Indonesia or Argentina, Sebastian travels across the globe, making valued relationship with all the tea plantations globally to secure the best quality of tea possible for Tetley.

There are two kinds of processing cut for tea leaves, CTC or orthodox. CTC method is a faster way of producing a standard quality of tea rather than the orthodox method as it is more time-consuming and require more human labor.

CTC method uses a CTC machines which crush, tear and curl them and process them in a period of just two hours. This method produces consistent tasting and produces strong, dark liquor with a distinctly astringent flavor profile which can accommodates the addition of condiments like milk and lemon far better than orthodox teas.

Orthodox method has every batch of tea leaves treated to a precise amount of withering, rolling and oxidization, all regulated by trained tea professionals to extract the best flavors from the leaves. This method offers the most authentic tea experience, hence often more expensive than the tea produced with the CTC method.

My favorite tea – Chamomile

Darjeeling – one of the more exquisite orthodox teas

It takes at least five years to become a qualified Tetley Tea Taster. Sebastian has over 10 years of experience among his team. He also showed us that each tea master has his or her own spoon engraved with their names on it once they are qualified as Tetley Tea Blended. All Tetley Tea is taste tested eight times before they make it into the final production for sale.

The quality of a tea blend is graded using a unique language called Uhuru. Sebastian proceeded to show us how he assesses tea leaf with four factors of Sparkle, Colour, Body and Zing. Since no tea crop is ever the same due to environmental conditions, tea tasting and blending requires skills and continuous learning process. In fact, each Tetley Tea Blender gets his taste buds insured for 1 million pound!

All black tea leaves are graded with addition of milk except green tea leaves as advised by Sebastian.

Tea tasters goes through the process of slurping brewed tea and spitting it out to assess and grade as well as blend their teas. Sebastian showed us how it’s done and handed me the first opportunity to try this. Not as easy as I have seen him do it, it certainly takes practice to be able to execute what a tea taster does daily. Every Tetley Master Blender tastes over 40,000 cups a week as their daily job. I certainly can’t imagine what that would be like and to still enjoy teas after that is surely a salutation for Sebastian…

We also learned that the perfect tea brew is made with only once-boiled water around boiling point. Black tea is best brewed with boiling point water whereas green tea is best brewed with boiling water cool down after two minutes. Steep your tea bag longer if you prefer a stronger tea note for black tea while the green tea only needs less than 2 minutes.

After our tea session, Sebastian challenges us to making our own tea with Tetley and a few other fresh ingredients. I made mine with ginger and basil with a hint of lemon. Cheng Yi aka FatBoyBakes walked off with the prize with his tea, picked by Sebastian to be his favorite of our group… Congrats again Cheng Yi!

A group photo with the Tetley team and Tetley Tea Master, Sebastian Michaelis

After the tea session, we all sat down to enjoy a lovely High Tea of mini savory and sweet bites with Tetley teas. A fruitful and informative session of tea with Tetley Tea Master Sebastion Michaelis!

Tetley Teas are available at all leading supermarkets. For more information on Tetley Teas, visit www.tetley.com

Dorsett Grand Subang Mid-Autumn Mooncakes 2017

Once in a Blue Moon by Dorsett Grand Subang

As Mid-Autumn festive season approaches, many would come together to celebrate this special occasion with family, friends and loved ones. It’s also the season to indulge in mooncakes and tea as well as keeping a tradition of celebrating this Mid-Autumn with gifts of mooncakes.

Dorsett Grand Subang is honoring this year’s Mid-Autumn festival with a beautiful Once in a Blue Moon mooncake collections, available from now to 4 October 2017. Master Chef Alex Chan and the culinary team has handcrafted a collection of mooncake varieties with a creative twist. These handcrafted halal mooncakes comes in 11 flavours, featuring 9 baked mooncakes and 2 crystal skin mooncakes.

Due to the health consciousness of many, there are 3 low sugar options of Low Sugar White Lotus Paste with Double Yolk, Low Sugar White Lotus Paste with Single Yolk and Low Sugar Pure White Lotus Paste. These are just right for those who wishes to enjoy mooncakes while minding their sugar intake.

For those who enjoy the delectable aroma of pandanus leaves, Dorsett Grand Subang is offering 3 types of mooncakes from Pandan Lotus Paste with Single Yolk to Pure Lotus Pandan Paste and Coconut Pandan Paste with Single Yolk. A particular stand out of the trio is the delicious Coconut Pandan Paste with Single Yolk for its clever pairing of sweetness of coconut with pandan flavours that elevates a unique and wonderful aroma and flavour.

Classic such as Pure Red Bean Paste never fails to please the many palates of those who deemed such flavours to always be their favorite. There’s also the Six Coarse Grains Paste, a version of the classic Kam Thui, filled with Omega 3 rich ingredients of walnut, melon seeds, pumpkin seeds, rolled oats, black sesame and sunflower kernel. For tea lovers, the Green Tea Paste with Single Yolk exudes a lush green tea essence paired with the delectable moreish salted egg yolk.

Dorsett Grand Subang is also offering two crystal skin mooncakes for the modern palates. Helming the limelight this year is Crystal Skin Pandan Lotus Paste with Single Yolk which embodies the Dorsett identity with its snow skin in blue. Chef Alex uses the natural ingredient of Bunga Telang or Blue Pea Flower, known for its health benefit of antioxidants which can lower blood pressure as well as enhancing memory and brain power, to achieve this pretty crystal skin mooncake. Not only is it pretty at sight, the mooncake is delicious too. There is another the classic option of Crystal Skin Red Bean Paste.

Mooncake Masterclass by Chef Alex, featuring Crystal Skin Pandan Lotus Paste with Single Yolk

Dorsett Grand Subang mooncakes are presented in a gorgeous blue and brown box lined with intricate Dorsett motifs. These Once in a Blue Moon mooncakes are available in a box of two (2) and four (4) pieces. These are available at the lobby of the hotel for purchase or at The Emperor Chinese Restaurant at Dorsett Grand Subang.

The mooncakes are available for sale between 13 August and 4 October 2017 at Dorsett Grand Subang, Dorsett Kuala Lumpur, Dorsett Putrajaya, Silka Maytower Kuala Lumpur and Silka Cheras Kuala Lumpur. Members of Dorsett Prestige Club and Dorsett Choice are entitled for 20% discount throughout the sale period while purchases before 10 September 2017 enjoy 20% early bird privilege. Meanwhile, bulk purchase of 30 boxes and above are entitled for 30% discount.

For enquiries and orders, please contact:

Dorsett Grand Subang    T: +603 5031 6060        E: bookfnb.subang@dorsetthotels.com

Dorsett Kuala Lumpur     T: +603 2716 1000        E: info.kualalumpur@dorsetthotels.com

Dorsett Putrajaya           T: +603 8892 8388        E: info.putrajaya@dorsetthotels.com

Silka Maytower KL          T: +603 2692 9298        E: info.maytower@silkahotels.com

Silka Cheras KL              T: +603 9100 1133        E: info.cheras@silkahotels.com

DORSETT GRAND SUBANG

Jalan SS12/1,

47500 Subang Jaya

Selangor

Tel: +60 3 5031 6060

Fax: +60 3 5031 8686

Email: info.subang@dorsetthotels.com

Website: www.dorsetthotels.com/malaysia/subang

Facebook: www.facebook.com/DorsettGrandSubang

Instagram: www.instagram.com/dorsettgrandsubang