KUCHING: An ambitious feat to promote Sarawak’s famous dish, and Kuching as an international tourism destination, went awry for the organiser of “The Biggest Bowl of Laksa Sarawak” event yesterday.
The Plaza Merdeka shopping mall here had organised the event also as an attempt to enter the Malaysia Book of Records for housing the biggest bowl of Laksa Sarawak, containing the equivalent of 1,500 bowls of the popular dish.
A total of 15 cooks were involved in preparing the dish, which took 18 hours to complete.
To fill the 1.3 metre-deep and 3.1 metre-wide custom-made bowl, several ingredients in huge quantities were used, including 100kg of Sarawak Laksa paste, 225kg of rice noodles, 90kg of prawns, 1,008 eggs, 90kg of bean sprouts, and 80kg of chicken.
The feat was certified by Malaysia Book of Records deputy general manager Mohamad Alex Edward, and witnessed by State Local Government Minister Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian.
Prominent celebrity chef Datuk Redzuawan Ismail, famously known as Chef Wan, was also present.
But once the feat was achieved, a local daily quoted an organiser spokesperson named Debra Sim as saying that the shopping mall planned to throw away the dish because it was deemed “unhealthy for human consumption”.
Attempts by the New Straits Times to confirm the matter with Sim prove unfruitful, as all calls and text messages went unanswered.
According to the shopping mall’s Facebook page on Thursday, the organiser will distribute 1,500 bowls of Laksa Sarawak today.