Guinness Flavour by Fire BBQ Festival @ The Gasket Alley
On 30 November 2019, The Gasket Alley in Petaling Jaya hosted Malaysia’s first Guinness Flavour by Fire festival, a weekend celebrating everything roasted, grilled and barbecued. Five of the city’s best grill masters cooked over open flames, and every dish was paired with a cold Guinness Draught. Fun fact: the barley in Guinness is roasted at 232°C, which is where its dark colour and roasted flavour come from.
The Grill Masters
Sapna Anand (GOA by Sapna) drew on Indian barbecue traditions. Her Kashmiri lamb chops, marinated in roasted spices and citrus and charred over charcoal, were tender and flavourful, and she also served smoky paneer and chilli-rubbed grilled corn for vegetarians.
Sherson Lian and Johnny Fua (Kitchen Mafia) mixed Western and Asian styles, with pineapple and red pepper-marinated leg of lamb roasted on a chain above the flames, and mussels in rice wine broth cooked inside bamboo.
Suren Krishnan (Tipsy Boar) was all about pork: chorizo, German sausages, Kansas-style spare ribs and Guinness-glazed pork knuckle, cooked low and slow over mangrove and fruit-tree wood.
Pitmaster Kok Fung (Burnin’ Pit) smoked his dry-rubbed beef brisket for over 12 hours using mango, jackfruit and durian wood, and served it with pickles and a Gula Melaka berry barbecue sauce. The brisket was super juicy and tender.
More Than Food
Between plates, there was live music, a Guinness Long Bar Challenge for merchandise, and lessons in the famous two-part pour from Guinness expert Cian Hulme. The crowd favourite was the STOUTie machine, which prints your selfie onto the head of your Guinness, a gadget previously only found at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin.
Final Thoughts
If you love barbecue, this was a fun way to try different grilling styles in one place. A cold, roasty stout turned out to be a great match for smoky, charred meat.
