KKK event at EEST at the Westin KL

Firstly no, this isn't some racist post about white supremacy (or yellow). KKK stands for King's Kitchen Klub, and is a ~2 hour session where the Westin KL chefs guide you through cooking/preparing a couple of dishes, followed by brunch/lunch at the restaurant. It's an interesting concept, and the darling and I attend a session at EEST - Westin's Chinese restaurant.

We arrive a few minutes early, and first impressions are that EEST is one of the most nicely decorated restaurants we've been in. The open dining area is adorned with these ... rock pools?


No idea what they're called, but they add a very serene and calm air. Here's a shot of a bigger pool in the center:


View of the dining area:


On to the cooking class! We're introduced to Chef Lai (Chef de Cuisine) and Chef Chong (Dimsum Chef). They start off with standing behind the kitchen counter, with us on the other side, and tell us we'll be learning 3 dimsum dishes - Steamed Chicken Wings with Black Bean Sauce, Shrimp Wanton in Chili Oil and Crystal Dumpling with Crab Roe and Crabmeat.


No fear though, we soon end up on the other side of the counter and inside the kitchen. After all we're decked out in King's Kitchen Klub aprons and chef hats!


Classes are kept down to around 12 people so the chefs can keep an eye on all of us.


After the teaching, it's practical time! Some of the participants hard at work wrapping Shrimp Wanton - the darling being an ex-chef is already done and posing for the camera instead :)


Some photos of our respective creations. I've got a Crystal Dumpling and two siew mai's in my bamboo steamer. Doesn't look like much from this distance, but I assure you it's super professional and looks like what a chef in a 5-star restaurant would have cooked. Ahem. :P


After we're done with the class, we're let loose on the buffet-style eat-all-you-can Dimsum brunch. Here are the rows/stacks of steaming dimsum:


Here's the porridge condiments counter.


At this point our camera ran out of battery (oops), so excuse the picture quality as these were taken with my iPhone :)

The porridge is available in two flavours - normal and with crab roe. You choose your choice of fresh seafood - cod fish, salmon, shrimp, etc, and the chef cooks up the porridge and has it sent to your table.


Here's the 'meats' corner. Assortment of roasted/fried Chicken, duck, lamb, and beef are available and chopped by the chef upon request.


Desserts! The desserts corner has some nice variety - from malay kuih, fresh cold chrysanthemum tea, tau foo fah, mochi, and assorted chocolates and pastries.


Graduates of the class posing for the camera with our two chef hosts.


King's Kitchen Klub, the cooking academy in The Westin Kuala Lumpur is the brainchild of Chef David King, Director - Kitchens. King’s Kitchen Klub offers cooking classes that encourage you to ‘Come as you are’ and ‘Cook as you like’ in The Westin’s innovative restaurants.

It's actually a pretty great concept, and considering that lunch at Westin's restaurants is already almost MYR100/pax, the price is pretty good. If you've got a group of 10-ish people they'll even set up a session according to your preference. (the darling and I paid $100/person for the session plus lunch, courtesy of Starwood Privilege).

As for the EEST restaurant - food was overall above average. The dimsum is good considering the dual handicaps of no pork and no ajinomoto, with some gems like the portugese egg tarts which were super nice. There are a few mis-hits though, most noticeably being the porridge which was bland, and in my opinion the natural fishy taste of the cod doesn't quite go well with the porridge.