Psssst.... I have a secret!
I do love secrets. Not so much about telling them but keeping them close to my heart.
In the past year or so, Kuala Lumpur seems to have been inundated with supper clubs that have become fashionable and the alternative to diners sick of the restaurant scene. Most of them are no longer well kept secrets since mainstream media have covered them extensively.
With Transparent Apron, its locale is still under wraps. Run by two passionate chaps, Nicklaus Au and Ryonn Leong, you may need to show them a "friend card" to waggle for a coveted invitation to their cosy get togethers housed in Ryonn's own pad.
This follows in the same vein of the London underground supperclubs where you join their Facebook page and get only told their whereabouts via email.
Still very much in the works, one session can only fit up to six persons. I was privileged to be invited as a "test bunny" for their food. Joining me in that session were fellow food bloggers and even a restauranteur.
Running on an apple theme, our three course (with a bonus item) meal was a well thought dinner that got our lips licking on what else these two talented guys have in store for us.
Their first dinner was all about playing in the kitchen with molecular techniques and sous vide cooking. For their second effort, it went back to something simpler but equally tasty. We started out with a burst of colour and flavour, in the form of an apple salad, fish tartare with a ginger lime miso reduction. While the fish tartare was in actual fact, salmon sashimi slices, the salad was refreshing and the sauce was a winner with its creamy texture punctuated with bursts of ginger. Lovely starter for a meal.
Next came a bonus item, originally thought of as a clams dish, the boys had to tweak with it to work with green lipped mussels. It was good. Again a nice light dish with the seafood being paired with garlic and chillies with a sauce that you lapped up with nice crusty bread.
Who can say no to their main meal since it is fork tender braised dark ale cinnamon pork with a mushroom apple sauce. A ramekin of creamy potato mash is set on the side. Purely comfort food, my only complaint was more of that yummy sauce so I can drizzle that on my pristine clean fluffy mash.
Dessert is an interesting apple terrine, thin layers of green apples sandwiched with buttery sauces and cinnamon that is paired with a lemon sauce and crunchy nuts. The idea of the apple terrine is fabulous and it keeps to the theme of light and fresh. However, maybe a choice of decadence can also be offered since we always want to end with a sweet note to make it simply memorable.
This kind of underground dining scene may take some time for diners to get used to. While even Transparent Apron is not A-perfect and needs some tweaks, I salute them for following their dreams and am happy to be part of this journey to further their passion.
For me, this whole set up is all about two aspiring chefs who want to set up their own thing to test the market first before they may jump full swing into the culinary world. It means less structure than a restaurant, so anything goes such as personal touches like their adorable llama mascot with his transparent apron on their menu. Who knows your waiter may break out in song...I heard they do a mean L-O-V-E jazzy number (not only can they cook but they even sing!).
Just expect to have a good time here like how your friend invites you over for a meal. Don't expect full service dining service or a chef with a string of kitchen experiences, and you are good to be an underground supper club convert.
Transparent Apron
Somewhere in Kuala Lumpur
For more information, email them at trans.apron@gmail.com
More pictures are found in my Flickr set.
Note: This was a trial run by Transparent Apron.
Gas! Gas! Gas!
Without gas, there will be no food…
One of my greatest fears when it comes to cooking is no gas.
Believe me, it has happened to me before.
Just before an important dinner, that’s when the gas tank miraculously decides to die out on me. Darn embarrassing to throw a party for your friends with the intention to be the hostess with the mostest to be left cold with all that food.
Big “facepalm” situation indeed.
Luckily I didn’t get egg splashed onto my face as I dialed 1-300-888-GAS for a tank of gas Petronas.
If not, I would not have been able to cook this divine 6 minute egg with its melting yolk centre oozing out.
For all your cooking gas needs, call 1-300-388-427 (GAS) for Gas Petronas.You earn Mesra points, there’s safety checks to conduct safety checks upon delivery and the personnel are all trained to handle the situation. For more information, log in to www.mymesra.com.my/beyondgasdelivery.
P/s do check out the cool Youtube video (click on this link) on the website. Now how I wish they all did such acrobatics when they deliver the gas.
6-Minute Hard Boiled Egg
1 egg
water to boil
Bring egg to room temperature. In a pot, bring water to boil. Gently place egg inside the pot. Set the timer for 6 minutes. In the meanwhile, get ready a bowl of ice cold water with ice cubes. Once it is 6 minutes, remove egg immediately and plunge into cold water. Leave for 1 minute. Remove. Gently crack and peel the egg.
Place on your favourite toast bread and cut through. The egg yolk will be oozing out.
NOTE: This is a sponsored advertorial.
Elegant Inn tends to be one of those steadfast places we always go for Chinese food.
This time, a tasting session of a few dishes they had introduced led to a very nice discovery.... a new breed of crabs aka Dungeness.
I've eaten it before in San Francisco but this particular crab comes from Europe.
Any genuine crab lover will love this newbie in the Malaysian market, as when eaten cold, the meat is sweet and chunky. Best bits is the creamy roe. Just add a dash of black vinegar and believe me you will be in crustacean heaven.
This yummy delicacy is priced from RM168 to RM238 per piece. Price tends to vary depending on the size of each crab received from the suppliers so double check prices and also availability of it before you head here.
We also sampled the baked version which was good but as exceptional like the supremely cold variety.
Continuing on the crabby trend, we also had these superb crab roe noodles.
It's based on a noodle dish I once sampled in Macau, on the recommendation of J, the owner of Elegant Inn.
This small place located next to the port that served these wonderful noodles had the distinction of being listed in Michelin's Macau guide. I've not blogged about my trip to Macau but these noodles were very memorable.
Even though you have not tasted the original, this one is almost as good with its creamy golden roe topping thin egg noodle strands that are have a lovely al dente texture.
For those who feel the crab roe noodles are too decadent, how about these crispy Chinese noodles braised with fish maw and sea cucumber. Part of a six course meal of RM118++ per person, I love these noodles for its textural contrast - crunchy strands mingle with softened ones that have touched the fragrant broth.
Adding more texture to the whole dish is julienne slices of fish maw, sea cucumber and Chinese chives (the pale version). A dash of aromatic dried prawn roe or har chee completes this wonderful dish.
We also sample steamed capon aka yim kai with a fragrant ginger paste but my favourite was the braised abalone served with sea cucumber stuffed with eight treasures, and a braised Chinese mushroom.
The abalone comes from the Middle East (my first time eating this type) and has a soft centre. While its fragrance is a wee lacking, this was made up with the aromatic eight treasure stuffing underneath that soft collagen rich sea cucumber. Even the braised mushroom was good.
One would have loved to abandon good manners and just licked up all that yummy sauce.
Even vegetables taste divine here and I love this home style cooking of eggplant with longbeans in their aromatic sauce with chilli paste, dried scallops and dried shrimps. Love how the eggplant melts in the mouth with bursts of the dried shrimp flavour coming through. Best eaten with a bowl of hot rice.
Last but not least, a sample of their new dessert, a nifty thing known as almond milk tea with glutinous rice ball. The tea is milky with hints of almond and once you reach the bottom, there is the surprise of a glutinous rice ball filled with black sesame paste. It is served with a sweet osmanthus water chestnut stick. A twist on the classic dim sum specialty, the water chestnut cake, this one was ingeniously battered and fried hence you get two textures - a crunchy batter on top and the almost jelly like with a crunch from the water chestnut. This is part of the RM118++ set menu.
Note, there are various set menus available. There's a 4-6 person set menu for RM338++ with wide choices for dishes. There is a RM118++ per person set and one for RM88++ per person. Details are in the Flickr set.
Elegant Inn
2nd Floor, Podium Floor
Menara Hap Seng
Jalan P Ramlee
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2070 9399
(Non Halal. For more pictures and the set menu details, see my Flickr set).
*Note: This meal was paid for by the restaurant.
It sounded a little too good to be true.
A place that served cheap and cheerful Vietnamese food in Kuala Lumpur?
My friend S had searched online and discovered this place tucked within the confines of Segambut.
I'm always game for any food brought in by the immigrants that have landed on our shores since that is truly the best way to enjoy foreign cuisines as good as in their homeland.
While we have had an influx of Burmese, Indonesian and Thai cuisines in the city, the one cuisine that always eluded me was Vietnamese.
I yearned for a good beef pho, the kind that Luke Nguyen was showing on Food Network Asia during his travels to Vietnam. Those visions of him fanning the fire while the beef stock slowly cooked away always made me wish Apple had invented some super smell-vision television or gadget that gave us a 6D effect where we could lick and taste the food on the small screen.
Despite visits to Pho Hoa (the closest to almost the real deal according to my Vietnamese friend) and even that swanky place in Starhill Gallery (what possessed me but I guess I was hopeful wagyu beef would be the answer), I was nowhere near the holy grail of pho.
Unfortunately, at this particular place I was to be dissapointed. No pho in sight either.
It seems there is no aromatic beef broth noodles here as a lot of their customers who were Chinese shunned the red meat. Instead, the modus operandi here was to blend with the locals.
Hence you had kuey teow soup (RM4.50 for small) staring up at you in the menu which the owner tells me is a specialty. Exactly how unique it was, I confess I didn't discover anything within that bowl of clear soup. Maybe it was because they forgot my side dish of herbs. I only discovered it is usually served with those aromatic herbs when I looked online for past reviews on this place. Nevertheless that mistake just exposed their weak point.
Even before I tripped over here on a Saturday, I was having a niggling suspicion that it was the same place I had tried before in Segambut. A quick chat with the owner revealed that they are the one and the same. The place had relocated here about seven years ago. Read the previous review here.
Their trump card is "I serve pork!" This pleases their Chinese clientele who swarm the place to indulge in a little porcine. Hence you find pork steak mingling with the noodles and vegetables (pork steak mee, RM5). It would have worked miracles to the traditional dish but instead it was a cop out. While most of the dried noodles would have been tossed in a tangy spicy clear sauce, this one wasn't aromatic or even noticeable. Big fail, we both waved our score cards.
Dish after dish we ordered was met with dissapointment. None hit our G-spot of yummy food. Instead it was just a "so-so" reaction that had us plodding through the food. Vietnamese pork ribs noodles (RM7 for small, available on weekends) were home tasting with its carrots that brought in the sweetness but it tasted so ordinary. Our Vietnamese rolls (RM4.50 for 5 pieces), wrapped in the white netting and deep fried till crisp had minced pork with chopped vegetables but eaten on its own, it was tasteless. Instead we had to liberally dip each crispy roll with the sourish garlic and chilli dip on the side.
One thing that did get our ears all pricked up...was literally the braised pork ears (RM7). Beautifully tender, we lapped it all up with the pork belly and stomach that came in a slightly sweet sauce. On the other spectrum is the free range chicken (RM6) version, a braised dish laden with lemongrass to give it aroma. That got a ho-hum impression from us.
Vietnamese coffee (RM3) served cold and hot are also available here. Believe me, you need that strong taste of caffeine as this place uses MSG liberally in their food that had me feeling thirsty the whole afternoon.
Would I return back again, you ask?
I somewhat think not unless I happen to be in the neighbourhood and I am craving for braised pig ears or the trotters with the hard boiled egg that was rather good in my first visit. Sadly, this Vietnamese food has been so diluted that it no longer bears much resemblance to the real deal. I think I better just stick to Pho Hoa for the genuine article in the future. And for those who love Vietnamese food, do throw out your ideas on where I can get good pho as I'm desperately seeking it like Susan in the movie.
Restoran Kah Hing
Jalan 6/38D
Taman Sri Sinar
Segambut
(Non Halal. Place opens from morning to afternoon. Night time has a tai chow serving fried noodles at the same shoplot. For more pictures, see my Flickr set.)
*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. This review is time sensitive; changes may occur to the place later on that can affect this opinion. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from this place for writing the review.
Getting back into the groove of work means sacrificing the blog, just a little bit...sorry!
Must admit I've fallen into a food rut. You know the kind where you prefer to eat the old and familiar versus the new and happening?
It's not as though I've not tried to hit those happening places such as that latest burger bar but the food there was dismal, it didn't even inspire me to whip out the DSLR to snap a picture of it.
Better not talk about failures but talk about something so much better i.e. Singapore's latest import that is making us eat our words and admit that, Singapore food is actually rather decent.
Technically it is Heng Hwa food and not Singaporean to say the least but the restaurant's origins hail from that tiny red dot down south.
It is not the first time we have been invaded by the Singaporean restaurant chains (one remembers Crystal Jade's delicious openings) but late last year, early this year saw a huge influx of them trooping up north to our capital. First, it was Paradise Inn in Sunway Pyramid. Then Soup Restaurant that serves Samsui homestyled fare and this place Putien started their business in the refurbished 1 Utama Shopping Centre's old wing.
I've dined at this place twice and noticed how packed it is every time. Even when I walk past it to patronise other places, there is always an eager queue of people at its doorstep and the hidden restaurant within seems to heave with people during lunch and dinner time.
Their key is consistency - everything is rather well cooked. Also helps when you serve up a rarely seen cuisine like Heng Hwa that makes it stand out among our usual Cantonese, Hokkien and Hakka cuisine.
For those whose tongues are more accustomed to robust flavours, this place is definitely not for you since their flavours are delicate and light.
I found certain dishes exceptional here such as the classic Chinese restaurant dish of poached spinach with superior stock. It is served with a triple whammy of eggs here - the stock is infused into a brilliant orange with creamy salted egg yolk and egg, while niblets of century egg complete the whole trilogy of cholestrol-highness. Really so lovely and decadent that those who don't eat greens really do not know what they are missing out.
The cuisine is a humble one that uses lots of root vegetables such as yam, a big favourite of mine. I love the crispy yam with duck that is like a grown up version of the wu kok, with its crispy filigree coating and chunks of duck meat in between.
The briny seaweed as a starter is also rather nice and tangy. There is also the decadent pig's intestine - tender niblets of the offal all rolled up in so many thousand layers that it is wonderful when bitten into. Another favourite, not pictured here is the deep fried pig's trotter - just the right crispiness mingling with the soft collagen that begs you to get the hands all dirty and eat it with your fingers.
We also sample the sauteed french beans that is lovely and crunchy. There is also prawns with tea leaves, a kinda forgettable dish that leaves us not much of a food memory. I'm no fan of their o chien either since it is rather chewy and dry. The Heng Hwa fried beehoon is rather nice, beautifully fried with each strand absorbing the rich pork stock it is cooked in.
Dessert is simple...the age old classic of soft yam with gingko - a decadent treat of silkiness mingling with sinful lard. There is also the cooling and refreshing lemongrass jelly.
I reckon I will keep returning to this place as it is my new Chinese comfort food. I also love the lor meen here with its silky white noodles and the lusciously sweet broth dotted with prawns, vegetables and pork.
Putien
G213A, Ground Floor
Promenade Section
1 Utama Shopping Centre (Old Wing)
Bandar Utama
Petaling Jaya
Tel: 03-77221539
(Non Halal. Reservations are advised or else expect long wait during peak times. Open from 11.30am to 9.30pm. From next week onwards, they will not break during the afternoon. For more pictures, see the Flickr set.)
*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. This review is time sensitive; changes may occur to the place later on that can affect this opinion. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from this place for writing the review.
I'm sure you have heard already that Equatorial Kuala Lumpur will be soon closing their doors.
The target date is 31 March, when they start tearing the old hotel to make way for the new.
While rumours are adrift on whether the hotel returns or not, one thing is sure we will be missing this stalwart when it is gone.
I have fond memories for the whole hotel since I was a kid.
Long ago, the Golden Phoenix Restaurant was THE Chinese restaurant in Kuala Lumpur.
Every time we had an occasion to celebrate, it would be held there. So many fond memories for its dishes such as the onion chicken (crispy skin chicken topped with aromatic onions), the apple fish (their sweet and sour fish with sliced apples instead), the sponge-like tofu with its holes and the sharks fin soup. Their yee sang was also the best in town.
However things went pear shaped for them as the old chef retired and most of the loyal staff also left to join one of the off shoots i.e. Pik Wah at MABA Building. Even though the hotel kept serving the old dishes, things were never the same.
I also loved Chalet as a child and it used to make me laugh whenever they served the sabayon since they put up such a performance whisking the cream until one of the waiters would dance around the trolley.
Etoile for us was where we got our goodies and birthday cakes. Then for Kampachi, it was for maximum Japanese pleasure especially their buffets. When I was a kid it would have been the Sunday all you can eat one but nowadays I prefer the Saturday version where you pick and order what you like.
Hence we decided to give the place a last hurrah before it closes.
Friends of mine have been visiting it regularly to relish its last moments. Best you all start jumping on the bandwagon too.
The selection is small but good enough to satisfy our hungry tummies.
We order loads of sashimi - salmon, yellowtail, butterfish and tuna. Everything is super fresh and delicious. They also do hand rolls.
There is also a selection of appetizers laid out on a table for us to select and of course, we all get plates of edamame to snack on. There are also makis (rolls) and deep fried soft shell crab.
I love the teppanyaki steak, cooked to medium juicy perfection. There is also sukiyaki and assorted tempura.
We discover that the cold soba noodles are wonderful and bouncy that we all order bowls to slurp it down. The hot cooked ones don't stand a chance against the cold ones as they seem almost flaccid compared to the more elastic tasting strands.
To end, it was green tea ice cream and something not on the menu, mini dorayaki or pancakes.
They are beautifully cooked and look more like blinis except we slather on creamy peanut butter and red bean paste to enjoy the Japanese sweets.
Kampachi
Equatorial Kuala Lumpur
Jalan Sultan Ismail
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2161 7777
(Pork Free. The buffet set lunch for Saturday is from 12 noon to 2.30pm for RM90++ per person. For the full set of pictures, see the Flickr set.)
*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. This review is time sensitive; changes may occur to the place later on that can affect this opinion. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from this place for writing the review.
Call me a food stalker..
That is how I felt with numerous visits I did to this place, where I sneakily took pictures of all their great food.
There is always a lot of excitement when I discover something new.
With this place, I was thrilled to discover it served a rare being in Kuala Lumpur i.e. the duck kway teow soup noodles.
From what I understand from Penang-nites, that dish is not so common also on the island.
At Penang One, you get to relish the Cecil Street Market's noodles in the modern comforts of a kopitiam.
Rather than travel four hours up to Penang, they bring all those yummy street food right to Puchong. (not really your doorstep if you live far far away from that suburb).
There are also loads more....curry mee, char kway teow, Hokkien prawn mee, cendol, ais kacang, rice dumplings from Cintra Market, assam laksa, nyah kuih and my big favourite i.e. Macalister Lane's prawn paste chee cheong fun.
So go forth and enjoy all these Penang goodies. For the full story, click on this link.
Penang One
G5, Jalan Puteri 2/1
Bandar Puteri
Puchong
Tel: 03-80520181
(Non Halal. For more pictures and the location map, see the Flickr set.)
*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. This review is time sensitive; changes may occur to the place later on that can affect this opinion. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from this place for writing the review.
One of the best things about January is the annual windfall of winter truffles that start to grace our tables in Kuala Lumpur.
This year, saw a bonus dinner hosted by my friend CS who gifted us with a truffle she had bought during her travels. The big time foodie does this yearly sojourns somewhere over the ocean that often see her coming back to our city bearing wickedly good food gifts like this prized truffle.
Babied with a little dampness to keep it from drying out (seems that keep it in the rice trick does not work), we enjoyed that black gold in the most unusual combination - Chinese food.
That hefty piece of black "diamond" was entrusted in CS' brother aka "The Chef and he ingeniously came up with a pairing of steamed kurau fish lightly tossed in an egg white sauce and an extremely generous sprinkling of black truffle shavings.
Honestly they looked like black butterflies flitting around the fish that it was a pity to even sink my teeth in it.
A whiff of the woody aromas waft up to my nose that I can't resist...
Indeed, this was a brilliant combination since the egg white sauce seemed to complement the truffle beautifully while the fish was silky smooth being steamed to perfection.
We also enjoyed the truffle on a classic combination, tossed in al dente pasta with crab meat.
I really loved how they served it in an old fashioned style to us...the wait staff all in unison opening the top of the lids to unveil the beautiful pasta... that reminds me of yesteryear Kuala Lumpur.
But, like the title says. I totally digress from its true intentions i.e. this year's truffle menu at the venerable dining place.
As usual, the same group of friends flock together to enjoy this special occasion. More people came along to enjoy the trip and with some persuasion, Sage kept us nice and cosy in their newly renovated private rooms for a lovely dinner.
Prized at RM260 nett per person, the menu offers an abundance of black truffles but bear in mind, these are not the Italian ones but their Tibetan cousins. While the far relatives are a little lacking in the aroma department (I noticed that the lighter ones seemed a bit aromatic but maybe it was just me), Sage made it up with the excellent preparation of their food.
Where is the best steak in Kuala Lumpur? I often get asked..occupational hazard I guess.
While the brain processes steak houses, I often forget that the best steak is from this place.
Only when I taste their aged Angus tenderloin perfectly cooked, it jogs that part of my brain to say, "this is THE place for steak".
I didn't really eat the whole steak since I ordered the pan roasted New Zealand Pink snapper (drats, double drats!) but I tasted Splashie Boy's plate and wished I could have eaten all of his.
My fish with its sweet sauce Perigueux and stuffed zucchini blossom paled in comparison to that awesome steak.
The awesomeness of that piece of meat was only slightly overshadowed by another favourite: the fedellini pasta tossed in the truffles and parmesan cheese.
We had kicked off with a lovely scallop carpaccio in a piquant dressing and dusted with truffle. To end, for that day, we had the dessert of the day - truffle dusted ice cream with mango feulleteine.
Ahh...there goes another season of truffles...till we meet again next year!
Sage Restaurant and Bar
6th Floor
The Gardens Residences
Mid Valley City
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2268 1328
(Pork Free. The truffle menu is available until end of February and for dinner unless special arrangements are made. More pictures in the Flickr set. For the full details, see their website.)
*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. This review is time sensitive; changes may occur to the place later on that can affect this opinion. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from this place for writing the review.
