ROBIN WONG

It is no secret that I am a pork lover and I eat all things pork. A few days ago, I was fortunate to be invited for an exclusive tasting session at ANTE, a highly acclaimed premium pork specialized restaurant in Kuala Lumpur. God knows where have I been all this time, missing out all the porky heavenly cuisines ANTE has to offer!




The combination of Pork Rendang with Nasi Kerabu was quite surreal and undoubtedly a great match.

That was something I never saw coming. I have always been a fan of the traditional nasi kerabu, having vivid blue rice served with a plethora of accompanying condiments. Furthermore, rendang, both chicken and beef have been my comfort food and these dishes are unmistakably uniquely Malaysian. It is then fitting to have this dish as a special limited edition only available for the coming Merdeka month. Oh did I say I love pork? Never would I have imagined having a pork rendang, this was certainly my first experience.

ANTE's Nasi Kerabu features traditionally prepared blue pea flower rice, surrounded by house pickled acar, salted egg, wok slow cooked sambal, toasted kerisik, four angled beans, long beans and keropok ikan. To make the Pork Rendang, select imported pork shoulder cuts were slow cooked for about 5 hours in a traditional rendang style.

While I am not an expert when it comes to Nasi Kerabu, I can be very picky about my rendangs. I like strong flavoured and bold spicy taste. The Pork Rendang certainly had the dominantly unique rendang traditional signature, but without being overpowering and just at the balance to preserve some of that irresistible pork flavor.




Besides the new dish, we also feasted on several items on ANTE's on-going menu. To me, the most memorable one was the Pork Steak (pictured above) and ANTE definitely lives up to the title of best Pork Steak Restaurant in town. There are not many places that can do proper Pork Steak, mostly some form of Pork Chops or deep fried meat. ANTE served a properly grilled steak, which was fabulous and the tenderness and juiciness of the meat was well preserved. When I was shooting the Pork Steak I cannot help but think of what Antoni from Queer Eye (Season 1 Finale) said: "grill marks make me so happy".

Those who know me will know that I am a meat-lover. I will eat all the meat and I live to eat!

I have a few Olympus cameras at the moment. The old and dying OM-D E-M5, which I have retired from active duty, the two E-M1 (original) bodies strictly for paid assignment and serious work, and an E-M10 Mark II which currently had a faulty screen (due to a nasty fall during a demonstration in one of my workshops). Oh and also an E-P5 which has stayed with me and strangely, of all my flirtations with different cameras over the year (there were Fuji X100, Sony RX100 series, Panasonic GM1, Panasonic LX100, etc) the one that I ended up keeping was the E-P5.

I know I have been blogging about Kuching food quite frequently since I have been returning home more often these days. However, I find myself loving the food shots I have taken each and every time I was home. There was just something about Kuching food that you cannot find elsewhere. And they are super photogenic too.

I am not sure if I make any sense in saying that it is more difficult for me to shoot photographs of people that I personally know in real life, versus strangers. Shooting random strangers on the street has always been a touch and go affair. I found someone fascinating, either with interesting facial features (facial hair, nice smile, soulful eyes, etc) or unusual character (choice of clothing, doing something cool) and I would approach them and triggered the shutter button merrily, without much thought. We may exchange short conversations and the encounter ended just there. However, when it comes to shooting friends, family or anyone that I know, I think I have the fear of "what if they do not like how they look on my photographs?".

Nevertheless, that did not stop me from taking the risk, and still point the lens on my friends anyway, with only willing participants of course.

Recently my dear friend Georgette Tan visited KL after her work trip to Berlin, and I attended her poetry recital at June Readings @ Seksan event. She looked super stunning in a white floral printed dress and I just had to take portraits of her. I brought her out to the yard and positioned her against short trees and shrubs in the background. The natural ambient side light from an overcast day did wonders in creating a flattering look on Georgette!

OBSCURA is the largest photography festival in South East Asia and they run photography Masterclass by experienced industry experts. I personally know the organizing team of Obscura and also some of my photographer friends have participated in their Masterclass before. This allows me to interview these photographers and I shall be featuring them in this and following few articles, sharing their experience being in Obscura Masterclass. To find out more about Obscura Festival of Photography, kindly go to their official site here. 

OBSCURA is the largest photography festival in South East Asia and they run photography Masterclass by experienced industry experts. I personally know the organizing team of Obscura and also some of my photographer friends have participated in their Masterclass before. This allows me to interview these photographers and I shall be featuring them in this and following few articles, sharing their experience being in Obscura Masterclass. To find out more about Obscura Festival of Photography, kindly go to their official site here.