Official Banquet for Lao Prime Minister

Last night, I was at the banquet hall of the Palace - Istana Nurul Iman – for the Official Banquet given by His Majesty in honour of Bouasone Bouphavanh, the Prime Minister of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. The previous banquet for a visiting head was almost a year ago when it was a State Banquet for the visiting Indonesian President.

I thought the food wasn’t as lavish as the last one as this was an Official Banquet as opposed to a State Banquet. The Lao Prime Minister is a Head of Government, so this is an Official Banquet. The Indonesian President was a Head of State, so it was a State Banquet. There were also other differences. There was no national anthem, so His Majesty together with the Prime Minister walked in and sat down and a doa selamat was read. Of course, there were still speeches by both His Majesty and the Prime Minister.

As usual, after a banquet, this blog becomes a temporary food blog. The banquet last night was lighter and not so heavy. After the starter and the soup, rice together with a variety of dishes were served at the same time, before dessert was finally served. The sweets at the end were nice but I forgot to take a photo of it – but as one guest remarked – a piece of sweets will send your blood sugar rocketing high. It was that sweet.

Just for the record -

The starter was Timbale of Lobster and Smoked Scallop with Mango Salsa and Lemon Dressing.

The soup was Shredded Chicken Soup with Sharks’ Fins, Crabmeat and Seaweed.

The main course was made up of small portions of the following:
Roulade of Chicken with Soya Bean Sauce,
Baked Lobster with Lemon Sauce,
Roast Rack of Lamb with Porcini Mushrooms and Glazed Shallot Sauce,
Red Garoupa Curry,
Parcel of Stewed Beef in Herb Soya Sauce,
Limpet and Prawn in Dried Chili with Basil and Cashew Nut,
Braised Mixed Vegetables with Coconut Milk,
Butter Mint Rice with Yellow Lentils,
Steamed White Rice, and
Ox Lung Pickle.

The dessert was Chocolate Mille Feuille with Fresh Fruits and Dark Cherry Coulis.







Comments

Anonymous said…
Assalamualaikum Dear Tuan Besar BR, I can sense the sensitivity of writing about food as lavish as the menu tabled and served at the palace banquet last night could make some quarters lament:"There they are guests of the Brunei Sultan eating the best and expensive food and yet there are people in Brunei and Iraq and Sudan and the rest of the world starving to death...:(" Your kind post to share with us the food description only makes my mouth water (if I had not had my lunch).
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Chef Pol said…
Its so funny, Nasi katok penyet. Take off the plate, the shiny wine glass, table clothes, those silver cutleries and disect the dishes. Roulade = which is also called ballotine; wrapped stuffed dish with caul's fat or some sort. cheap Taufu dried sheets or seaweed can be use for wrapping.
hmm what else
porcini mushroom: it's european mushroom, tons of it comes from Italy, well, we can always use Shitake mushroom from hua ho. Lavish??
butter mint rice or yellow rice?? which we have every sunday wedding function. = nasi minyak, Trans fat ghee butter with tumeric or yellow colouring = Pencalap :)
Lavish?? would be Saffron filaments
hmm oh yea, timbale = which is a ramekin (mould), lobster mousse, smoked scallop?? yea whatever. when its fresh its always nice to pan seared it for 30 seconds.
would have been nice using local produce. I believe we have lots of Tuna, Tengiri, and Sea bass(selunsung).
lobster, Obviously expensive. Dont we have lots of udang galah?
that dark cheery coulis with a smudge?? they shouldnt have been. should be neat.
ox lung?? lungs?? i love to see the picture if u have Mr BR.
who knows oneday, i like to turn local produce which is reasonably cheap and turn it to "Lavish" and hopefully lots of bruneians will realised what they r missing. god's Will InsyaAllah. lets make a campaign ..Support LOCAL chefs! :)
Anonymous said…
I never the thought that the state/official banquet held at the Istana would really be taken into consideration and posted up on a site. I myself had the privilege of working as one of those that took part in creating the food served during the banquets for several years. It is no easy task, I tell you. It takes alot out of a person mentally and physically. Knowing that the creations were appreciated (or not) by others not only by those sitting at the head tables is flattering.
I'm currently educating myself in ways to improve or rectify those state/official banquets or rather Brunei's hospitality industry somewhere around the world will now look forward to your posts whenever there is an official event going on back home. Thanks!
Anonymous said…
tais liur ku eh!
sia sia pun
apa jua kami ani
katok pagi makan pagi
katok patang makan indomei!
Eleanor said…
Dear Mr BR - thank you for sharing the wonderful pics - I have been starring dreamily at the crockery, cutlery, glassware and table cloth, and of course the food for the past 10 minutes..... and I think I see a silver bread basket as well.... ohhhh... I wonder who made all the serving ware. If I had been there, I would have had taken a quick peek, never mind the strange stares... Loved this. Thank you.E.
eleanor: click on the archives for July 2006 - there are two postings on the birthday banquets - different food, more European.
Eleanor said…
Hello again - yes, I saw the posts back in July and just went back for another good look. I love looking at food and table decor. And lengthy descriptions of food is pure music to my ears! All the best and look forward to more banquet pics.E. p.s. I don't mean to fawn but you do have one amazing blog.
Beautiful place its really looking imaging nice post i love place.

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