The All New Shanghai Brunch @ Shook! Starhill Gallery

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Jason

Shook! in Starhill Gallery came up with their Sunday brunch buffet in Nov 2011, with Masquerades as the main theme. It was a great success and to keep things fresh, this year, starting April 1st, the team behind Shook! brings back the old taste of Shanghai with a unique blend of Western and Chinese fusion cuisine to please their diners further.

A refreshing East meets West buffet concept suitable for the whole family, young or old, the moment you step into Shook!, you will be surrounded by a wide array of world-famous cuisines such as 8 Treasures Braised Duck, Crepe Suzette (French pancake of caramelised butter and sugar, filled with fruits and served with whipped cream, almond flakes and Curacao liqueurs in a flaming flambe!), sushi platter, antipasti and famous cheese such as Brie de Meaux, as well as men and women dressed up in their cheongsams and samfus, ready to serve you.

Apart from the buffet spread, diners are also given an a la carte menu, where they can choose one signature dish, either from the Grill, Japanese, Chinese or Italian.

My grilled Salmon fillet from the Japanese a la carte menu was fantastic; fresh and well-seasoned with a dash of black pepper.

WMW‘s King Prawn Noodle from the Chinese menu came in a humongous portion, certainly worth every cent you pay for this! The big prawns were fresh and succulent, while the gravy was whipped to the right consistency, but I found the ginger taste a little bit overpowering the dish.

The chicken roll with glutinuous rice was an interesting combination, while the fresh spring roll was good albeit the slightly thick spring roll skin.

I also love the onion pancakes, a traditional Chinese snack that is difficult to find nowadays, and the “mua chee”, glutinuous rice ball stuffed with dry black sesame paste and coated generously with crushed peanuts. As for dessert, the longan fruit tart with baked meringue topping was refreshing.

As for drinks, there is a wide selection of cocktails, mocktails, in-house pouring wine (Hunter’s Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir), champagne (Laurent Perrier Brut), juices and soft drinks to choose from. For your information, there are two pricing for the buffet brunch; should you choose to include free-flow champagne in your meal, it’s priced at RM268++. If food only, it’s priced at RM168++ (not including drinks).

We did tried their mocktail and cocktail; the Dragon Sunrise (RM21++) mocktail is made of dragon fruit, pineapple, orange and grenadine syrup, while the cocktail Fire Ong (RM40++) consists of Bailey’s, Kahlua and Sambuca – set aflame on a wine glass! That was certainly a sight to behold.

While you tuck in, your hearing senses will be pampered with songs you’ve grown up listening to, brought to you by the live band. Also, watch out for Chase, the magician and his sidekick Mime who is quirky, yet at the same time amused us with his balloon art.

Shanghai Brunch is available every Sunday at 12pm onwards until 3.30pm, starting April 1st, 2012.
Shook! @ Starhill Gallery

RM268++ per person with free-flow champagne
RM168++ per person, food only

For reservations and enquiries, please contact 03-2719 8330.

Hop over to theNomadGourmand and Bangsar Babe for more pictures!

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Brunch @ Mandarin Grill, Mandarin Oriental Hotel

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Jason

Gosh. It’s already February and I had only updated my blog once. *sweats*

It was certainly one of those odd days where I found myself seated inside Mandarin Grill restaurant on a Saturday morning. In case you didn’t notice, fine dining is not a monthly affair (not even yearly!) to me. But then, a friend actually made the effort to arrange the brunch, so there is no reason for me to reject, isn’t it?

*Oh, just a quick note for those who are clueless about Mandarin Oriental (like me, duh. I actually had to ask the guard in KLCC on the direction to the hotel), it is actually located right next to Suria KLCC. There are just too many hotels in KL that we sometimes lost count (and lost their sense of location as well). For a complete list of Kuala Lumpur hotels, you could always check out hotel booking website such as Asia Web Direct.

It was a quiet Saturday morning. We were the first bunch of patrons of the day and we get to sit next to the high window overlooking the KLCC park – plenty of natural light for snapshots. A menu is presented to us with limitations (RM78 for 2 courses and RM94 for 3 courses) – 3 items for each appetizer, main and dessert categories. There were four of us, therefore we ordered almost everything from the menu except the fruit platter.

For starters, we had the Vitello Tonato (roasted veal with tuna cream sauce and endives), Scallop Carpaccio (fresh scallop paired with green apple dressing and apple slices and coriander cress and Roasted Beetroot Salad (beetroot chunks served with blocks of feta cheese, crushed pine nuts and leafy greens). Out of the three, the scallop carpaccio has our highest votes for freshness and the sourish green apple dressing complement the scallop nicely. The veal fillet were a little bit dry and stringy, while the beetroot doesn’t seems roasted prior to serving.

The mains – Braised Short Rib Ravioli (with cauliflower puree and rosemary jus), Butter Poached Salmon Fillet (served in lemon balm consomme and fennel) and Tagliatelle Pasta (tagliatelle in tomato concasse). The pasta texture was too soft (overcooked?) to my liking and nothing outstanding with the tomato sauce. The ravioli fares better, the shredded short rib filling was flavourful but portion too small. The salmon was nicely charred on the sides, with slight crisp and the consomme not too overpowering the fish.

We skipped the fruit platter and went for the more sinful ones when it comes to dessert. CK had the Chocolate Ice Cream Coupe (with caramelized pistachio nuts and chocolate swirl) while me and the others had the Creme Brulee with fresh berries. The ice cream definitely came from a premium manufacturer (not sure which company though) – silky smooth and bursting with intense chocolate taste. The Creme Brulee was pretty nice as well – the caramelized sugar on top wasn’t too thick and every spoonfuls of the custard were full of egg-y flavour, with the berries lent a slight tang to the dessert.

Mandarin Grill @ Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur City Centre,
50088 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.

Tel: +60 (3) 2179 8818
Fax: +60 (3) 2179 8659
Email: mokul-sales@mohg.com
Web: http://www.mandarinoriental.com/kualalumpur/dining/restaurants/mandarin_grill/

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Tong Ah Restaurant, Chinatown, Singapore

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Jason

Happy New Year to you! How was your Christmas and New Year celebration? 2011 marked my first time throwing a Christmas Eve dinner – preparations were ok, but it turned out a little bit chaotic when the guests starts arriving but we managed to pull it off.

Last year, I made a resolution to increase my postings but it seems that I failed to achieve that. But anyway, here’s my first posting for 2012, with the new layout.

Trip to Singapore has becoming more and more frequent for me, thanks to the affordable air fares by Jetstar/Tiger Airways/AirAsia etc. It is a good opportunity for me to meet and catch up with my friends who are working and staying there, as well as exploring what Singapore has to offer on the menu too. Singaporean friends knew that I write about food, so they took great effort to bring me around for a good meal whenever I goes down to the Merlion City. With that in mind, I found myself standing in front of a charming colonial corner shoplot in Chinatown called Tong Ah (not Ah Tong, as I initially thought. Pardon the label on the picture).

Mr. D insist that I have to try this: Coffee Spare Ribs (again, pardon the label on the picture, I’m just too lazy to re-edit a new one). Now, this is new to me… I’ve heard about Coke Chicken before (rumour has it that it was invented in Hong Kong, anyone can confirm this?) but I have not tried it before. So, how does the Coffee Spare Ribs tastes like? I would say it’s like a cross in between Marmite Chicken and “pai kuat wong” (spare ribs in dark, sticky sauce). The sticky, caramelized coffee sauce has a good coffee aroma and not bitter, but the spare ribs were kinda tough, though. Nevertheless, interesting try.

In between eggs and green veggie, we succumbed to the temptation of “fu yong dan” (Fu Yong-style omelette). Loaded with small prawns, chopped onions, sliced Chinese mushroom and spring onion, this was rather ordinary, but delectable nonetheless. On the other hand, their deep fried beancurd with minced pork and chilli was good – silky-smooth homemade beancurd brimming with egg-y aroma and topped with loads of chillied-minced pork and in-house special gravy, this was a great accompaniment with white rice.

And there are more meat for the carnivores! Belacan Fried Chicken smells really good but it lacks the pungent belacan taste to it, perhaps more belacan would make a difference to the dish. And lastly, dry Butter Squid with thin butter/margarine-based batter encasing the squids. A pretty decent dish without the heavy use of butter/margarine – allows you to taste the squid without being overwhelmed by the batter.

All in all, Tong Ah serves some decent Cantonese dai chow fares. Service can be a bit slow especially during peak hour, so if possible, go with a bunch of friends or family members and chat away while waiting, just like we did. No price tags were availabe for each individual dish as it was a treat by my friends

Tong Ah Restaurant
36, Keong Saik Road (intersection in between Keong Saik Road and Teck Lim Road),
089143, Singapore.

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Kelantan Delights, Wisma Consplant, Subang Jaya

Posted on December 20, 2011 by Jason

*Disclaimer: This is an invited review, extended to me by PureGlutton.

I have not been to the east coast of the Peninsular of Malaysia but I heard a lot of good things about their food from J2kfm and WMW. My chance to try out some Kelantanese-Malay cuisine was knocking at my door when PureGlutton extended the invitation to dine at Kelantan Delights to a few of us last month.

As Kelantan and the southern part of Thailand are just next to each other, there are some minor Siamese influence on their cuisine, such as the Sireh Daun Kadok (RM 21.50, picture above) which resembles Thai appetizer Mieng Kam. Their keropok lekor (RM 8.50) – a type of eastern coast of snack made of fish – was rather good with black pepper added for extra flavour.

Typical rice dishes one could find in Kelantan are the famous Nasi Dagang, Nasi Tumpang and Nasi Kerabu – of course we couldn’t leave without trying their Nasi Tumpang (RM 18.00 with fried chicken). Wrapped with banana leaf in a long cone shape, the package also includes sambal, meat floss and curry. The rice were rather moist to our liking but the condiments were great.

Nasi Kerabu Daging Bakar (RM 20.00, top picture) and Nasi Dagang Kerutuk Daging (RM 20.00) were another two rice dishes we sampled. The blue colour is added to the rice with the use of bunga telang (blue pea flower) to give it an interesting blue hue. It is then mixed with a plethora of finely shredded aromatic herbs and served with daging bakar (roasted beef), salted egg and crackers. Nasi Dagang on the other hand, is one of Kelantan’s iconic dish – usually served with gulai ikan tongkol (tuna curry) but here you can opt to have it with beef or chicken.

If you’re a big eater, try Nasi Budu (RM 19.00) which comes with ulam (raw vegetables), fish, gulai kawah and sambal.

Ok, enough about rice for the moment, here are some a la carte dishes. Belut (eel) Cili Kering (RM 24.00) and Tom Yam Udang Kelapa Muda (RM 21.50) are the spicy ones we had, with the latter served in a hollowed coconut “bowl”. We had two types of fish actually – the one showed here is Ikan Siakap Daun Kadok (RM 49.00) and Ikan Siakap Serai (lemongrass, not shown here). The lemongrass version definitely fares better in terms of flavour and aroma in my opinion. Then comes the Puyoh Goreng (RM 23.00) which are essentially fried quails. My first time trying quails, there aren’t much difference to spring chicken except maybe spring chicken has meatier drumsticks?

The only noodle dish (if one could call this a noodle…) we had that night was Laksam (RM 14.00). Yes, Laksam, and no, that wasn’t a typo. It is very much like chee cheong fun except it is served in rolls with thick and milky coconut milk-based gravy with a hint of fish, lots of shredded herbs, dry sambal and hard-boiled egg. Not a dish for everyone as some might find it too heavy to the palate (especially with the thick coconut milk gravy).

For dessert, we had 4 types, with Lopes (RM 7.00), Pulut Durian (RM 9.50), Royal Plate (RM 14.50) and er… Ketupat Sotong (RM 9.50). Yes, even sotong (squid) can be made into dessert as well! Lopes – glutinuous rice cake with shredded coconut and gula melaka (palm sugar) tastes very similar to our onde-onde, while for the Pulut Durian, it has a strong durian aroma but I wish they would serve it without the seeds. Royal Plate essentially has everything that Kelantan has to offer on dessert, which includes akok (slightly burnt pan cakes), jala emas (noodle-look alike), bunga tanjong (yellow beads made of duck egg’s yolks that were very rich and dense) and finally, tahi itik (literally translated as duck’s droppings). Oh yeah, the Ketupat Sotong definitely stole the limelight that night as none of us ever imagine, let alone try it. The roasted squid is stuffed with glutinuous rice and served with a savoury brown gravy. I can’t really describe how it tastes like, perhaps PureGlutton could shed some light on its mystery, hehe.

Kelantan Delights
Ground Floor, East Wing,
Wisma Consplant 1,
No 2, Jalan SS16/4,
47500 Subang Jaya.

Tel : 03-5611 7845
Web: http://www.kelantandelights.com/ver1/main-subang.html
Business hours : 11am – 11pm
For map, click HERE.

Christmas Sweet Treats @ Butter Tree

Posted on December 8, 2011 by Jason

For my entire 29 years of life, I have not thrown Christmas party once. But this year, I’m hosting one and yes, I’m decorating my first Christmas tree as well! I’m actually very excited about it; just think about food, decorations, ambiance, laughter of friends at the dining table….

Oh, by the way, if you haven’t plan what to get for our Christmas dinner (especially dessert), may I pique your interest on Butter Tree?

Butter Tree (Ara Damansara and Happy Mansion) are the new additions to the group who also manage Food Foundry and Huckleberry Cafe. While Food Foundry focus on casual dining and Huckleberry on cafe-style, Butter Tree gears more towards bakery and pastries. Their Happy Mansion outlet is located at the same spot where 6 2 10 Nasi Lemak and Grill used to be.

So, back to their Christmas goodie offerings. For this festive season, all Butter Tree, Huckleberry and Food Foundry outlets are preparing a variety of sweet treats starting from 1st December 2011 until 1st January 2012 (one whole month) and they are ONLY available for pre-orders (one week in advance would be ideal). There would be Christmas-themed cookies, such as (from picture above, top to bottom) The Nutcracker (chocolate, banana and walnut cookie), Carabells (cookie with crushed salted cashew nuts and drizzled with caramel) and Gingerbread Mans Land (honey gingerbread cookies. Cookies will be sold as a ‘scenery’ with buildings, angels, snowflakes, crescent moon etc.)

These might not look pretty but they taste pretty good. These pistachio cookie with chocolate ganache filling, dipped in a smooth layer of dark chocolate are known as Dark Prince. Sweet outer casing with a chewy texture – definitely something good to keep a kid’s mouth busy on the dining table!

If cake is in your menu, you might want to get this on your dining table, the Jack Frost. Chocolate-hazelnut cream encased by buttery, vanilla sponge, then topped with roasted almond flakes and creamy frosting – this baby has our highest vote for the day! The vanilla sponge was moist and fluffy, paired together perfectly with the heavenly hazelnut-milk chocolate cream filling. The freshly roasted almond flakes lend a crispy texture to the cake.

Last but not least, we have Sugar Fairies, which are soft vanilla cookies with raspberry-white chocolate cream filling. The cookie took us by surprise as it crumbles very quickly as soon as we got it onto our hands. The raspberry filling has a nice tangy-sweet combination of flavour but we found that it was slightly too sweet to our liking. We gave our feedback on this, and hopefully, they will look into the matter immediately.

All the above items are ONLY available for pre-order, where it would be best to pre-order one week in advance to avoid disappointment. For pricing, kindly refer to their FB page HERE. You could pick your orders from any of the outlets listed below:

Food Foundry, Seksyen 17
Butter Tree, Seksyen 17 (Happy Mansion)
Butter Tree, Ara Damansara
Huckleberry Cafe, Bangsar Shopping Centre
Huckleberry Cafe, Pavilion KL

Check out what My Story and Eat Only Lar has to say.

Butter Tree
BG-1, Happy Mansion,
Jalan 17/13,
Seksyen 17,
46400 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor.

Tel: 03-7831 2237 (Ara Damansara’s outlet)

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Oh My Pork! @ J Thean Kitchen

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Jason

OMG, I was actually drooling while editing the picture above! Heard of this place from WMW about their delicious pork dishes. Best of all, it is located just a few stones throw away from my house, convenient enough to drop by for lunch on weekend or dinner.

Still relatively new, J Thean Kitchen was a kinda quiet that evening. The overall place is painted in white (including furniture) with some Chinese influence thrown in here and there. Easy to read menu, friendly waitresses, al fresco seating for those who smokes. Oh by the way, that J-Porky Bun (RM 16.90, picture above) came in a longish shape, served together with potato wedges and fried mantou bun instead of the usual burger bun. If there were two things to compliment about this bun, it would be a) the pork patty and b) the fried mantou bun. The patty was juicy, thick enough to satiate a pork-lover’s appetite and well-seasoned. The fried mantou bun further elevate the experience with its crispy exterior. Each bite sent my mouth and brain into “food orgasm”, no kidding!

Their fusion bak kut teh (RM 10.90) tasted just right to me, however I did not try the belly meat as they were too fatty to my liking (you can choose the cuts of meat you like, in this case, CK loves his meat fat). Having tasted so much different types of bak kut teh recently, I personally feel that J Thean’s version is slightly less greasy.

For dessert, try the Melaka Rainbow – chilled gula melaka with coconut milk, chewy red jelly bits and sago. The mango pudding was okay too, although the colour made it looked kinda artificial, the texture is similar to a caramel custard with mango bits in it.

SS2 Mall is still been pretty quiet nowadays even when after Celebrity Fitness Express opened its doors. Let’s hope that J Thean Kitchen would stay on and there would be increase traffic to the place soon. In the mean time, if you’re a pork-lover, you could help out as well – just drop by J Thean! (if you haven’t do so)

J Thean Kitchen
Lot G-58, Ground Floor,
SStwo Mall,
40, Jalan SS2/72,
47300 Petaling Jaya.

*Also available – FatBoyBakes and PureGlutton’s thoughts on this place.

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Hoi An’s Specialty: Cao Lầu

Posted on October 5, 2011 by Jason

Also known as Faifo, Hoi An is a small but beautiful old port town at the Quảng Nam province, South Central Coast of Vietnam. Listed as one of the World Heritage Site by UNESCO, Hoi An is a very good heritage preservation example of a Southeast Asian trading port of the 15th to 19th centuries, with buildings that display a unique blend of local and foreign influences, especially Chinese and Dutch.

This is a good place to run away from the hustle bustle of a big city. There is not much to do here, however, except shopping (plenty of tailors here, if you want to do a piece of suit, there are loads of choices here), eat (let’s go into that later, shall we?), photography and short tour to the ruins outside of the town. Click here to get more information on how to get here.

Food in Hoi An are generally pleasant, cheap and tasty (especially when you follow travel guides like Lonely Planet, you won’t be disappointed with their recommendations). There are three dishes that Hoi An are famous for, and that you could literally find at any cafes or restaurants around the town; cao lầu, “white rose” and wonton dumplings. “White rose” (banh bao vac) is basically shrimp dumpling made from translucent dough skin and shaped like a rose (similar like our local “ham kok chai” but smaller and round in shape).

While wonton dumplings and “white rose” look-alike might be found at other places, Cao Lầu is a local dish only found in Hoi An. It is made with rice noodles (very similar to our “tai look meen” or the thick yellow noodle but more coarse in texture), topped with pork slices, croutons, bean sprout and greens. The ingredients varies from restaurants to restaurants though, with some include crackers and crispy pork rind. It was rumoured that the noodles are made with the water from an ancient Champa well, hence contributed to its unique flavour. These pictures were taken at Bobo Cafe, an family-run eatery that has the usual backpackers fare and local specialties, with a pleasant courtyard seating for night drinks. The cao lầu although tastes kinda plain to our palate, the accompanied meat slices gave it a balance in the overall flavour of the dish.