Dishing up a treat at Asean Food Festival

A series of cultural performances and an array of authentic Asean cuisine offerings marked the Asean Food Festival 2017 in Doha on Monday.

The event, organised by the Asean Committee in Doha (ACD), was attended by Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Chief of Protocol Ibrahim Yousif Abdullah Fakhroo, Ministry of Education and Higher Education’s Private Schools Affairs Department director Rawda Safwan Zeedan, other dignitaries, and diplomats from other embassies.Attendees had the opportunity to savour various Asean dishes at a buffet dinner at Sridan Restaurant in Shangri-La Doha Hotel.A stage performance entertains festival attendees. Speaking at the event, Thailand ambassador Soonthorn Chaiyindeepum, who also currently chairs ACD, said the Asean Food Festival at Sridan Restaurant will continue to offer guests a chance to taste the sumptuous and popular Asean cuisine until the end of this month. Some of the dishes include Malaysia’s Nasi Goreng, Thailand’s Pad Thai, Indonesian Satay, Vietnamese Pho, Brunei’s Soto and various popular cuisines from Philippines and Singapore. ACD also hosted a seminar on ‘Trade and Investment Opportunities in Asean, which forms part of a series of events to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of Asean.“It is especially more relevant today, in light of the current situation that Qatar is now trying to diversify and encourage more trade and investment with countries in Southeast Asia, and to build up strong ties with Asean, as reflected by the recent visit of His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia last month,” the Thailand envoy said.