Swiss food is a rare commodity in Malaysia, which is what makes dining in Chalet, at Hotel Equatorial Kuala Lumpur, so special. In a setting that makes you feel as if you were truly in Switzerland – complete with Swiss flags, a mini cable car overhead and a life-sized Friesian cow statue – the restaurant, which has been around for 37 years, also delivers top-class Swiss dishes.

And this made Chalet, Malaysia’s oldest fine-dining restaurant, the perfect venue for the Festive Dining series in conjunction with the Malaysia International Gourmet Festival hosted by Organising Chairman Dato’ Steve Day and Datin Su Wai Fun.

Datin Seri Raihan, Tunku Dara, Ms Lim Meng Hong and Tunku Shahabuddin

Che'Puan Winnie Sophia Low and Tunku Johanez	Dato Seri Abdul Azim, Datin Seri Raihan, Puan Noormah Mohd Noor and En. Faiz Ishak

Guests at the dinner included YAM Tunku Dara Tunku Tan Sri Naquiah Tuanku Ja’afar, Director of Syarikat Pesaka Antah Sdn Bhd and YM Tunku Kecil Besar Tunku Datuk Mudzaffar Tunku Mustapha; YAM Tunku Dato Seri Shahabuddin Tunku Besar Burhanuddin, Executive Chairman of Strateq Sdn Bhd; YM Tunku Nurul Hayati Tunku Bahador; Dato’ Seri Azim Zabidi, Chairman of Sungei Wang Plaza Sdn Bhd, and Datin Seri Raihan Abdul Rahman; Che’ Puan Winnie Sophia Low, Chief Operating Officer of Low Keng Huat Brothers Realty Sdn Bhd, and YM Tunku Johanez Tunku Annuar.

Gathered for pre-dinner drinks and canapés at the foyer, which was decorated with posters of scenery from Switzerland and a painting of the Swiss Alps, the guests were served by a hostess dressed in a traditional Swiss outfit, the dirndl, recalling to mind the world-famous image of Heidi from the children’s storybook. There they enjoyed Xenia, a vodka-based cranberry and orange juice mixture, while the canapés of bouquet of green asparagus with apple balsamic dressing and air dried beef as well as the chilled jelly tomato consommé with trout caviar went down particularly well.

In spectacular fashion, guests were pleasantly surprised when an alpine horn measuring more than 12 feet long was brought out to start the proceedings, where Dato’ Steve introduced Alan Ong, General Manager of Equatorial Hotel, who in turn presented the restaurant and kitchen teams, including guest Chef Fritz Tschantre (specially flown in from Zurich Switzerland) who would be presenting his Classic Menu alongside Chef Haffizul Hashim’s Nouveau Menu.

Mr Alan Ong, En. Faiz Ishak, Puan Noormah Mohd Noor and Datin Su

This means that the guests had the privilege of tasting half of the courses from each menu, served alternately. “It is our 11th year with MIGF and we thought it would be appropriate to give it a theme this year, which we called Exquisitely Swiss. That’s why we brought in Chef Fritz, who was also the second chef in the history of this hotel,” said Ong.

The delicious meal elicited sounds of appreciation from the guests gathered. Each and every one of the guests had wonderful things to say about the delicacies created by Chef Tschantre and Chef Hashim especially for MIGF.

“I liked the main dish of rosa pan-fried milk veal steak Aargau-style with saffron noodles. It was tender, nice, and pretty good. The sauce matched and they went well together,” said Mr Ichiro Suzuki, Owner of Ten Japanese Fine Dining.

“Agreed, I liked the veal very much too,” said Pn Noormah Mohd Noor, Chief Executive Officer of Express Rail Link Sdn Bhd, who was accompanied by En Faiz Ishak. “But I also liked the dessert. I have a sweet tooth, and sometimes I forego the starters to have my dessert first!”

The meal soon came to an end, but guests continued to linger at their tables, enjoying a hot drink to wash down their dinner. No one wanted to leave just yet. “I have been coming to Chalet for many years and for me, it is almost like coming home,” said En Asri Ghafar. “It is always a great evening and the food tonight was superb. A new layer is added to the already great memories I have from this restaurant.”

That was also the sentiment of Suzuki, who enjoyed the chance to try new things. “I think that MIGF is a great concept that gets people together to dine and at the same time, try out what’s new,” he said.

As the last speech was given, Chef Anthony Edington, Executive Chef for Chalet, together with his team raised a toast to Dato’ Steve and Datin Su, and thanked the Festival Advisory Committee and organisers for running yet another successful MIGF.

Dr Beh Chor Khim, Ms Soon Poh Lin and Ms Debra Soon	Mr Jeremy Smeeton and Ms Hilary Wright

Jenny Shabuddin, En. Asri Ghafar, Ms Lim Meng Hong and Tunku Nurul Hayati

Other guests who attended the dinner were Dr Beh Chor Khim, Director and Consultant Cardiologist at HeartScan International, and Soon Poh Lin; Mr Jeremy Smeeton from Bintang Melewar Sdn Bhd, and Ms Hilary Wright; Ms Lim Meng Hong; Ms Jenny Shabuddin; En Nikmat Abdullah; Ms Debra Soon; and Vision Four Media Group’s Mr Robert Holst.