KUCHING: Two 21-year-olds, Eunice Teo Ee and Sylvia Lim Zi Wen, won the top prizes at ‘Sarawak Tuak Cocktails Competition’ held at The Hills here recently.
Eunice won the competition with a concoction that she called ‘Grandma’s Cocktail’ as a tribute to her grandmother.
“I was inspired by my grandmother, so I mixed-matched Iban and Chinese elements.
“I used ingredients used in Chinese herbal soup such as goji berries, red dates, pandan leaves for fragrance, ginger, and tuaque tuak,” she said.
Currently studying hospitality management at UCSI, she studied beverages for 16 weeks.
On future competitions, she expressed willingness to take part if given the chance.
Both Eunice and Sylvia defeated six other contestants at the Culinary Heritage and Arts Society Sarawak (CHASS) Heritage Food Festival at the Hills Mall on Sunday (May 14).
They brought home cash prizes, bottles of tuak and certificates.
Sylvia, 21, called her cocktail ‘Kumang Lemai’ which, in Iban, means beautiful.
Her winning cocktail was infused with vodka, jasmine green tea, exotic juice, lemon, and peach syrup for sweetness and flavour.
Sylvia has been working as a mixologist at a bar called ‘The Other Side’ since September last year and this was her first competition.
“I would join future competitions. It feels like I should keep doing this,” she said.
