Feast on Durian Fest

Durian, just mentioning this word makes me tremble inside with excitement. The kind of excitement that I feel I need to share with the world might not yet be understood by all. You see, durian is a kind of fruit that either one loves deeply or loathe completely, that is also if one have first got the chance (or rather many chances) to put one’s feelings to the test. Head over here to Travel Guide Malaysia (which I write for a weekly column on Malaysian food) to further read on what durian is all about in Malaysia, and how my relationship with it has developed over my life.


I have been deprived of this said King of Fruits since last year as I did not had the chance to hunt down for my favourite kind and indulge in them mindlessly. This year I was pretty lucky (ah this tham jiak is getting luckier it seems), as a good friend of mine, LH invited me to gorge on unlimited fresh, and by fresh I meant served directly from an ideal farm where the soil on the hill is fertile and the temperature is just right with enough rainfall, and also a huge variety, and by variety I meant many types of species including D24, D10, Golden Swallow and many more, at none other than Signature Kitchen’s very own Durian Fest! This is their 4th year in organizing such a fest, as it had been extremely well sought after, and why not if it is for durian? This fest is to bring Signature Kitchen’s clienteles, their friends and families together to of course enjoy durian feasting but at same time able to visit the kitchen showroom, which I took the pleasure of too. There I find myself poking around and imagining the kitchen that I would eventually have.

Pictures above courtesy of Signature Kitchen

Upon reaching there with Y, some of our friends are already there enjoying themselves, so I quickly sat down and attack! Then LH went and get even more for us to continue feasting, did I mention that this is like a durian buffet heaven? It is! Besides consuming copious amount of this evil fruit, I ate also copious amounts of the cooling rambutan to balance out the heat from the durian. How thoughtful of the organizers to let us indulge with less guilt. After that, I am still hankering for more soft, goeey and bitter kind of durian that is my all time favourite, so I head on to the booth, where all the butchering of various durians are carried out, choose my tried and tested D24 (which recently I had the chance to try out with J’s family at the infamous SS2 durian area, but mind you we did not go for the buffet but selectively chose this species to indulge in with due pleasure at home), took some pictures for this tham jiak blog, much to the amusement of the amiable durian ‘slayers’, and then head back with the prize possession to my fellow friends. I found that only one of them who shares my love for bitter-alcoholic-fudge-like durian, while Y and L prefer the sweeter kind. Ah, all with their own due of love for durian, I am one happy to devour more of these for myself.


Nevertheless, I enjoyed myself very much in this durian buffet, thanks again LH, and I am looking forward to Signature Kitchen’s 5th installment of this yearly indulgence. Burp! Excuse me! Now this tham jiak is satiated for the time being for this year’s durian season, and will once again hunt for a fix of this strangely addictive fruit next one, hopefully feasting again in this durian fest.