Many of us grew up with Sarsi as our childhood favourite soft drink. It was often found at family gatherings during CNY and the like. In an effort to get us reminiscing about our past love for the drink, F&N has been running its #sarsibestwith campaign. Contestants would post up photos of the food they believed paired best with the fizzy drink.

One of the winners created a Nasi Lemak burger: rice as the patties and the rest of the ingredients inside it. To reward her, F&N organised a sit down 5-course dinner with popupdiningkl's innovative team of young chefs. They created a special degustation menu based on the winning entry.

Of course, the choice drink for the evening was Sarsi. It was a well thought out dinner and presentation for the dining table was simple and relatable, just like the F&N brand.

We started off the dinner with an appetiser platter each - it was a deconstructed, reimagined Nasi Lemak served on egg carton.Props to the chefs for letting their imaginations take them to places unseen and coming up with a platter unlike any other. The egg pudding, reflective of the hard boiled egg in a traditional Nasi Lemak, was light and sweet, a nod to the dessert, creme brulee. The peanuts and anchovies were turned into a Nasi Lemak inspired tuile and the substitute for rice was a simple rice cracker with sambal sauce.

Next came a basket of sourdough bread and a dollop of freshly churned garlic and herb butter, served on a cold stone. Again, I have to give it to these young chefs for coming up with these presentation concepts. Given the idea of popupdiningkl is that they work out of other people's kitchens each dinner service, they have managed to maintain a certain quality in their dishes as well as continued to wow diners with their plating skills.

Our next dish was also a Nasi Lemak inspired one - which came in the form of risotto cooked in coconut milk and pandan, with a prawn on the side and topped off with bonito flakes and anchovies. Though the prawns were slightly undercooked, the entire East meets West dish surprisingly came together quite well.

Then, we were served a chicken dish with liver and cincalok sauce with a side of local salad. The liver and cincalok were both blended together to create a pasty type of gravy to dip the meat into but the meat itself was juicy and sweet from being poached and then lightly seared, and didn't need a sauce to go with it.

Our first dessert was a cucumber granita with nectarine, rose cream and ginger curd. The cucumber was very refreshing after our heavy meal. But everyone's favourite was the rose cream, which sang to the tastebuds in harmony with the cucumber. The nectarine was much too sweet for my liking but everyone else polished off this dessert with no issue.

Finally, we had an ice cream sandwich - Kapiti's ANZAC coconut cookies ice cream (found at Ice Dreams Cafe, Damansara Kim) between two freshly baked shortbread. Many of us were very full at this point, but still managed to enjoy every bite of the last dessert.

Popupdiningkl's location changes each time, but you can follow them on Instagram @popupdiningkl or watch their Facebook page for updates at www.facebook.com/popupdiningkl.

watch their Facebook page for updates at www.facebook.com/popupdiningkl.

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