Beginning from March 1st 2012, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will serve a choice of carefully selected Cristang meals on board of their flights from Kuala Lumpur to Amsterdam. Passengers can look forward to tasty dishes such as a Cristang salad, Chicken Curry Belanda or Beef Semur when they travel in Economy or World Business Class.
When I got the invite for the launch, I literally drooled over my keyboard and replied with a Yes, though the location of the event was daunting
because the launch was held at ..
SEPANG!
Our hot food was prepared in the LSG Sky Chef building, where most of the in-flight menus are prepared.
For the benefit of those who are unfamiliar with the Cristang cuisine, the cuisine is influencedby a variety of ethnic groups who settled in Malacca and who left their cultural andgastronomic traits behind. The food is a mix of delicious tastes, varying from spicy to salty, sour andsweet.
Original relatively bland European dishes has evolved into delectably spicy hybrids withthe introduction of onions, garlic and chillies.
KLM Business Class Cristang meal on-board.
KLM Economy Class Cristang meal on-board.
Choice of Curry Chicken Belanda or Beef Semur.
The Cristang is also a new ethnic community of Malay, Indian, Portuguese and Dutchdescent. The heart of all things Cristang, in particular all things Portuguese andDutch in Southeast Asia, is in Malacca, Malaysia.
Thus, to ensure the authenticity and taste of the Cristang menu, KLM contacted Ms CelineMarbeck from Malacca, whos an author of a few Cristang cookbooks. Her main focus is to promote the Cristang culture and its food, and her bookCuzinhia Cristang was the starting point of this whole idea.
Proud of her heritage and in her quest to propagate Cristang cuisine, Celine enthusiasticallysigned up for this project and gave all the necessary assistance by designing thisdelectable menu.
Below: Celinescrutinizing the dishes prepared and explaining to us the ingredients.
The meals will be available in Economy class for six months (1 March 31 August) and three months in World Business class (1 March 31 May).
The dessert in the menu is Bolu Cuco, a Portugese coconut cake, whichis commonly eaten by the Eurasians during festive celebrationslike Christmas.I dont fancy coconut cakes as I dislike dessicated coconut but this cake was really nice. The texture was alike chiffon or more accurately our local kuih bahulu; as Bolu Cuco is light & dry-ish in texture. The ! accompan ying cardamon custard added moisture to the dessert.
This is the Cristang salad, also part of the whole Cristang set meal. Ingredients include lettuce, cucumbers, boiled eggs and hard tofu; with the key differentiating factor to be the salad dressing, a chilli sauce like concoction of which Celine shared the recipe chillis, garlic and ginger, cooked in vinegar and sweeten with sugar.
Left: The Beef Semur and right; The ChickenCurry Belanda.
TheCurry Chicken Belanda is creamy but not very spicy (or at least not to me). According to Celine, the chilli and crispy garlic toppings are a must.
Beef Semur, tender fillets of beef marinated with mixed spices, soy sauce and vinegar overnight. The beef is then boiled till tender with potatoes.
I grabbed a picture with Celine, the only Portugese cuisine maestro that I have met so far. I have every intention of buying a copy of her cookbook as well. If any of you would like a copy too, do drop me a comment here yea! 
Its about RM80.00 per copy and its not difficult to obtain a copy via bookstores. I will be ordering mine direct from the publisher as advised by Celine.
In a separate interview with Celine, I asked her if there are any good Cristang eateries around. She did mention one in KL, but I have received less than stellar reviews about the place so I shall not share it here.
Sadly, other than that, authentic Cristang cuisine is fast becoming a lost heritage. 
Ok, enough about food.
Now, Im itching to fly KLM to Amsterdam in April/May for the Tong Tong Festival which is Netherlands Pasar Malam Besar. There will be major music and dance artists performances as well as exhibitions and stalls offering ! merchand ise and food.
I hope the weather is not too cold then!
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