A couple Fridays ago, Eiling invited me to Cubes Chinese Restaurant at Jaya One for a food review session.

Jaya One is slowly becoming a pretty popular watering (and dining) hole in PJ, and it is not hard to see why. There are plenty of restaurants, cafes, and pubs offering a wide variety of cuisines, and parking is relatively cheap and easy to find.

Cubes Chinese Restaurant

Yiling, Eiling’s sister, but not Ziling, (mystery of the EZY sister naming convention) and I reached the restaurant and had a good 20 minutes flipping through the menu and chatting before our Eiling finally arrived.

The interior decoration of the restaurant is modern, chic, very different from typical high end Chinese restaurants. We were greeted by the owner, Mr. Ang, who turned out to be a very friendly, funny, and fine host.

probably the best London Aromatic Duck….

So we got started with a serving of “probably the best London Aromatic Duck”. The server flossed the quarter duck confit to and we then wrapped the meat with very fine crepe, spring onion, julienned cucumber, and the special sauce. Their signature appetizer dish, and it was very yummy! Reminded me of the similar dish at Kensington, Seremban.

braised peanuts, juice, enzymes

Throughout dinner, we were served hot tea, a variety of interesting juices (vegetable juice anyone?); and since Eiling is a buddy of the restaurateur, we were also served the little shot glasses of “enzymes” which were fermented juice that tasted very close to being alcohol but not quite, it was pretty interesting. An acquired taste I must say.

double boiled soup, tofu with spinach and mushroom, tiger prawn with rice crisp

We then had the Double Boiled Scallops with Tong Sum Soup. The pork ribs, scallops, and herbs certainly works very well together to produce a very sweet and herbal tasting soup, I like it.

Tiger Prawn with Rice Crisp came next. The prawn itself was the size of my palm, deep fried in a way that still leave the meat very succulent. The pairing of rice crisp is to provide a different texture to the prawn.

Homemade Bean Curd with Spinach and Mushroom provided yet another dimension of taste that is typical of Chinese cuisine. Soft, smooth, and certainly not lacking in taste, the mushroom with it’s sauce and scallop bits certainly adds a bit of character to the otherwise plain tofu dish.

honey roasted pork ribs, stir fry lotus roots and celery, almond soup and  black sesame tong yuen

The dish that was probably most amazing in the whole dinner was the Honey Roasted Pork Ribs. I mean, just look at it, a generous piece of ribs, doesn’t look anything more like a slab of char siew (bbq pork), but when you cut into the meat, ahh. The meat immediately breaks on impact and the aroma of that perfectly roasted pork come rushing out. It was really succulent and really, really tasty. This dish should not be missed.

We finally wrapped up the main course with Stir Fry Lotus Roots and Celery, the vegetable certainly provided a fresh change of taste from the seafood and meat. The lotus roots is prepared in two ways, deep fried and by normal stir frying.  This provides a slightly different flavor, the deep fried version reminds me of deep fried bitter gourd you get in places like Kanna Curry House

Yiling, KY, and Eiling

After we were absolutely filled to the brim, Mr. Ang ordered us (and we denied at first) the Almond Soup with Black Sesame Glutinous Balls. I think the almond soup was a tad too thick and would personally prefer soya milk in this case, but the glutinous balls was very yummy. Reminded me of the version made by (well, reheated) Mellissa one particular night at Melbourne.

Overall, the dinner was only bested by the company at the table. Eiling and Yiling always made good company, and Mr. Ang, being a fantastic host, made the entire experience that much better. Price at Cubes would be slightly higher than your run-of-the-mill Chinese outlets, but the combination of food and ambiance made it all very worth it.

So if you’re looking for a finer Chinese cuisine not located in a 5-star hotel, this would be one of the very few places worth visiting.

Address:
Cubes
18-1, Block L1-1,
Palm Square Jaya One,
No. 72A, Jalan Universiti,
Petaling Jaya
GPS: 3.118298, 101.635294
Tel: 3-7958 6616

Posted by KY | 32 Comments »

I had a food review at Bruno’s last week, and pinkpau Su Ann was the partner in crime. The appointment was on 8pm, and knowing how well this girl is with punctuality, I had told her to make it 7:30pm, but it didn’t deter her from arriving at my place only 5 minutes before 8 though…

Anyway, lets get back to the topic.

Bruno’s is one of the new Western restaurants that serves non-halal food, a trend that is slowly emerging in the market, following the good receptions of places like Jarrod & Rowlins and Bermuda &Onions. A trend that I particularly welcome! The restaurant actually shares the same owner as Food Foundry (one of the only places that sells Mille Crepe)

classy deco, and Su Ann, the very hot and cute thief of time

The unique thing about Bruno’s is the Iberian pork they serve. The black Iberian pigs are allowed to roam in the oak forest and raised with a diet of grass, herbs, acorns, and roots. A few months before slaughtering, the animal is fed only acorns. As a result, higher level of oleic acid is found in the meat, which is supposed to be a good thing that lowers your bad cholesterol (LDL) while increasing the good HDL.

Now who said eating pork is necessarily a bad thing?

Spanish ham, glorious pork ribs

Our host of the night was none other than the famous Daphne Lee (who hit off with Su Ann in a long and amusing gossip session) of the Drams Project. We started our dinner with a plate of Spanish Ham and Sausage Platter. The meat were slightly salty and tasted something between dried meat (bak kua) and ham, they go very well with some bruschetta in between. A good selection as appetizer, though a taste that needs a bit of acquiring.

Then it was our main dish, the BBQ pork ribs. I’ve had BBQ ribs with beef, but nothing came close to having it original, pork, as it was meant to be. The portion was huge and it came with potato, french beans, and salad. The side dishes were meant to give your taste bud a chance to refresh, alternating between the juicy and meaty ribs and the freshness of vegetable. We finished the entire rack without much trouble at all, it was good. I think next time I should have some beer to go with this.

Zarzuela (soup), dessert, and linguine with prawns

Zarzuela, the name of the soup I probably won’t remember in the next 5 minutes, was very nice. There’s scallops, mussels, clams, squid, and prawns in the clam and tomato broth. Very sumptuous, very delicious, and probably nullified the effect of the whole oleic acid business.

We also ordered the linguine prawn with spicy white wine butter sauce, unfortunately it was a too spiced up and the prawns were a bit overcooked to my liking. Despite the very nice presentation of this dish, it was a disappointment for the night.

the dessert, the girl, and the wine

Dessert was the very sinful Valrhona chocolate lava cake, with this little orange fruit that I absolutely love. The chocolate cake went very well with the white wine we had.

It was a very good dinner, and with the most gossips I’ve heard since forever. I’m sure I’ll see you again somewhere, Daphne!

Jaya 33 is just a couple minutes off Federal Highway

While not cheap, prices at Bruno’s is still fairly reasonable. Entrees are from RM 30+ onwards and you can have gourmet sandwiches or salad for RM20+. Of course, that huge rack of pork ribs costs a bit more than that. They also serve steaks, seafood, paella, and a selection of tapas.

The review session was arranged by foodstreet. More pictures can be found on my flickr set

Address:
PG-01 A, Ground Floor, Jaya 33
Jalan Semangat Section 13
46100 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.110274, 101.637139
Tel: 03-7960 2663

Posted by KY | 36 Comments »

Following our sumptuous dinner at Lucky Loke with the garlic fish and asam prawn, we decided to head for some dessert that we deserved, especially since Kim wasn’t with us. We decided to head to Food Foundry at Seksyen 17 for some Mille Crepe.

how do you resist something like this?

For the uninitiated, Mille Crepe is a French dessert, basically made by many layers of very thin cooked pancake. There are some custards and other flavorings in between the layers, usually presented in slices, kinda like Cheesecake. Mille literally means a thousand, but in this case, there were 20 layers of crepe that made up this dessert.

Despite just having had a heavy meal, we ordered 3 pieces of this wholesome stuff, Vanilla, Chocolate Orange, and Strawberry & Cream.

this one’s for you, Kim.

Of the three flavors, my favorite was plain old Vanilla, the texture of 20 layers of crepe with the taste of fresh custard and the vanilla flavor, very luxurious. It’s easily one of the best desserts I’ve ever had, and put Cheesecakes on a completely different scale altogether. With Mille Crepe, you don’t get the annoying “stick to the roof of your mouth” feeling as you would with the latter. The Chocolate Orange was very good too, as with the Strawberry & Cream flavors, but I thought they could have slightly stronger Strawberry taste to it though. We finished everything rather quickly while almost bursting our guts in the process.

The dessert costs RM8 to RM9 per piece, but it was seriously good and any dessert lovers should not call themselves dessert lovers if they haven’t give this a try. It was a pity Kim had to miss it.

Food Foundry is located at Seksyen 17

This restaurant is located at the same block as 6 to 10 grill, other than Mille Crepe, they serve some western style as well as local cuisine and desserts.

Address:
BG-8 Happy Mansion,
Jalan 17/13, 46300
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.123520, 101.634870
Tel: 03-7955 3885

Posted by KY | 22 Comments »

I have actually been to Ho Chi Minh City on business trip for more than half a dozen times since some three years ago, it is alway such a delightful place to visit. The Vietnamese people really does offer the very best of hospitality anywhere, and of course, the city offers some interesting food too.

clam with pork, bbq frog with skin, and bbq prawns

I managed to contact an old pal of mine, Trinh, for some drinks on Sunday night. The last I met this guy was back in August 2005 for some Banh Xeo, more than one and a half year ago. We rode to one of the nearby seafood and beer restaurant to catch up on old times.

The host ordered a plate of BBQ prawn, some interesting “grilled clam rolled with Pig’s omental fat”, and BBQ frog with skin. Of course, a few bottles of chilled Heineken to go along with these local delights.

The words mean “welcome” and “see you”.. or something like that

The food were certainly very good. The BBQ prawn was marinated with some pretty spicy seasoning, and packs a kick even if you don’t dip it into the traditional lime + salt + chili paste. The locals usually chew down everything, including the head and shell.

The grilled clam was an interesting dish that tasted kinda like bacon and clam meat, except in a bigger and juicier bite. It went very well with beer, and definitely one of the heart surgeon’s worst nightmares.

Thought I’ve had frogs before, this is the first time I’ve had it with skin intact. The texture is similar to fish skin, but tougher and slightly sticky. The aroma of the frog meat was very good as well. Fresh vegetable is featured in every dish, not very different from the Malay ulam. It is actually a very nice concept, you have some meat or seafood, then some vegetables to freshen up the tongue, repeat.

this place is just right next to Legend Hotel in District 1, HCMC

It was a very good supper, and nothing beats meeting old friends from far away places. I’m not exactly sure how much the food costs, but the pork with clam was about 55,000 VND, with another 10% tax. One ringgit equals to around 4,500 VND.

This particular restaurant is situated on
3C, Ton Duc Thang
District 1, HCMC
Vietnam

Posted by KY | 6 Comments »

As some of you might aware, I have written quite abit about Vietnamese food such as the BBQ & steamboat. The latest installation, I bring you Banh Xeo, something akin to crepe.

We went to this place called Banh Xeo 46A, an old school place by the roadside, with extended roof however. The place is packed with mostly Vietnamese, but I did see a table of mat salleh smacked somewhere in there tho.

As you can see on the bottom 2 pictures, they serve BBQ prawn and fish too.

This is what we came for, Banh Xeo, it’s got shrimp, bean sprout, and some other stuff in it. As with most Vietnamese dishes, it came with a generous serving of fresh vegetables. We also ordered fish, and some fried pork that came with something like very soft pohpiah wrapper.

The way you eat Banh Xeo, as shown by my Vietnamese colleague.

• Tear a serving of the “crepe”
• Wrap some fresh vege over it
• Add some sauce and maybe some chilli
• Indulge your senses

Typical tourists never get these kinda true Vietnamese food, it was awesome.

Posted by KY_a | 1 Comment »