Daniel Lim & James Kon
The Brunei Food Awards (BFA) visited the Belait District for its food judging activities on Sunday.
High Commissioner-Designate of Bangladesh to Brunei Darussalam Nahida Rahman Shumona joined the BFA panel as the Special judge.
Head chef of Buccaneer Restaurant Tong Pak Wen, in an interview with the Bulletin, expressed support for the campaign as it highlights the variety of cuisine found in the country.
He said the BFA is an opportunity for restaurants to showcase their dishes and spark creativity among chefs.
Restaurant owner Elaine Tong expressed similar enthusiasm.
Five dishes – sousvide chicken with vegetables and mashed potatoes served with garlic rosemary sauce, Buccaneer umami beef burger, al-funghi prawns pasta, braised beef rib served with homemade BBQ sauce, and garlic herb crusted rack of lamb with the beef burger and beef ribs – were presented to the judges.
The troupe also visited Serikandi Restaurant, where the restaurant’s nasi biryani chicken, daging rendang, chicken tikka masala, and daging masak hitam were sampled.
They, they visited Gerai Simpur’s Dzanora Satu and sampled nasi dulang mix comprising of fish, chicken and prawn; and Indah Damai to try out its fried kuey tiaw prawn, butter prawn, beef rendang, red velvet, and sansrival.
Meanwhile, BFA judges and the high commissioner-designate were at Aminah Arif Restaurant in Jerudong recently. The high commissioner-designate had the opportunity to try making the ambuyat. She also sampled nasi lemak ayam, tumpi with daging rendang, bubur kacang and nasi goreng belacan. She also received the restaurant’s chefs uniform as a memento by Manager Muhammad Nazri bin Haji Azahari.
The high commissioner-designate and the BFA judges also visited Santi Nur Restaurant and Catering, De’Green Sychet Restaurant and Catering, Saiba Jaya Restaurant, A Sal Myay, Osman Ghani Restaurant, Mita and Mehdi Sdn Bhd, Ar Hasan Restaurant and Baisakhi Restaurant.
The BFA – the first food and beverage award of its kind – aims to promote and invigorate the growth of the local food and beverages industry. It recognises and formally awards the best dishes of local and international cuisine across the country.
The food judging activities represent an integral part of the BFA where four certified judges evaluate and score dishes submitted for the contest.
The judges have have been accredited by the World Food Championships.
The dishes are evaluated based on the EAT Methodology that takes into account execution, appearance, and taste of the dishes.
Nearly 200 eateries and over 500 dishes have been scored and evaluated to date while 200 more are expected to be evaluated this month before the official BFA ceremony, expected to take place in December.