DALLAS, May 28, 2007 / FW --- Known for its unique cuisine, Malaysia’s Kelantan region held the Malaysia-Kelantan Food Festival in New York as part of the ‘Visit Malaysia Year’ initiative.

In a gala dinner held at the Delegates Dining Room of the United Nations, H.R.H. The Sultan of Kelantan & H.R.H. Raja Perempuan of Kelantan launched the festival in regal fashion that highlighted the culture and beauty of the country.

KEKKWA musicians playing traditional Malaysian music serenaded the guests as they arrive and in lieu of the red carpet, dancers performed the “Selamat Datang” (literally means ‘welcome’ in the Malay language), dance to welcome the guests.

The true stars of the evening though, are the chefs who prepared the full course dinner for the evening, which is a masterful performance by itself. With each course a culinary delight, and the dessert just perfect on the palate, a dessert for the eyes was served up by Malaysian-born designer Zang Toi.

Presenting a capsule collection of day and evening dresses created from the ‘Songket’ fabric that H.R.H. Raja Perempuan of Kelantan designed herself; Zang Toi reworked the regal ‘Cik Siti Wan Kembang’ Malaysian costume.

Proposing contemporary silhouettes in black, white and silver with Malaysian aesthetics still very recognizable, Zang Toi just made the updated Cik Siti Wan Kembang highly covetable.

Irina Dvorovenko, prima ballerina of the American Ballet Theater was so enthralled by the collection that she told Zang Toi, ‘I want to wear everything you created.’

Actually, Irina will have a lot of chances to do it. Next month, she and her husband, Maxim Beloserkovsky will be performing ‘Sleeping Beauty’ at the Lincoln Center. With the cast party and gala dinners, she’s right in saying that each and every piece in the collection presented that night would be perfect.

The Chef

HRH Prince Faiz of Kelantan and Zang Toi

HRH The Sultan of Kelantan and HRH The Raja Perempuan of Kelantan

Maxim Beloserkovsky and Irina Dvorovenko