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

Tags:  delicious,  gourmet,  iberian,  jaya 33,  Petaling-Jaya,  pinkpau,  pork,  review,  spanish,  su ann

Posted by KY | 26 Comments »

Last Thursday I rushed to town right after work to attend the Made of Honor movie screening event, some of you might remember how I challenge Stewie on the fishing game (you owe me CKT, Stewie!) to get to this event. I was so excited for the 8 course meal at JW Marriot, and thought the movie was going to be a boring chick flick. However, the night didn’t quite turn out the way I expected.

Before I go any further, there are more pictures at facebook album here.

Robb, sparkling wine/champaign?, Lorna

My long time friend Lorna accompanied me to the event, and as we walked in, the JW Marriot PR lady sort of assumed we are married. When we said no, she immediately made another mistake and tried to convince us to have a wedding dinner there.. oh well.

As with most events littered with bloggers (some 10 tables of nuffnangers), there were plenty of camwhore sessions even before the dinner starts. There were some friends like ST, Kim, Tim, Wenqi, Ringo, Yee Hou, Nicholas, FA & Bob, Skyler, Su Ann, Robb, Stephanie, Aronil; some familiar faces; and some blog friends I met for the first time such as Suet Li and Atrica. And again, I’ve forgotten many new names like I always do.

Tim, Wenqi, Ringo, Kim, Suet Li, Nicholas, Bob, FA, Su Ann

The setup for the ballroom was excellent, better than most of the weddings I’ve attended. Flowers, candles, and everyone dressed up in suits and evening gowns. However, the food was rather disappointing. I only truly enjoy the soup from the eight course dinner, with the worst dish being the saffron risotto. I seriously didn’t know what the chef was thinking.

The champaign (or sparkling wine) with strawberry was excellent though. Lorna and I kept asking for more till the waiters gave us a funny look.

Made of Honor

I was initially very hopeful for the dinner but didn’t care much about the movie. However, Made of Honor, despite getting a rather low rating from IMDB, was a very enjoyable movie. The show was funny and even touching in several moments. If you enjoy chick flicks (I think I’ve developed the taste for it, a cardinal sin for a guy maybe?), you’ll enjoy this one. I didn’t want to say this, but I’ve enjoyed it as much as I did with How to lose a guy in 10 days. Hee-hee.

48.5 liters plus a tin of petrol, thanks Lorna!

On the way back, I over estimated my petrol reserve by around 3km and got pwned by my car at Jalan Parliament. My car was hungry and refused to work without feeding her the new and improved RM 2.70/liter petrol. I was stranded.

Lucky Lorna drove as well, and I had to call her (who was in front) for help. My princess charming came back 20 minutes later with a tin of wholesome hydrocarbon (RM 5 for the can, 15 for the fuel) and revived the little MR2. Thanks Lorna, I owe you a dinner.

Well at least now I know my car runs 364 kilometers in the city before it’s too late.

Tags:  event,  jw marriot,  lousy food,  made of honor,  movie,  mr2,  nuffnang,  party

Posted by KY | 32 Comments »

When I first got the invitation from foodstreet for a food review session from Peony Garden at Kota Damansara, I did some searches on the internet and but was not able to find any blog entries. So I went to the restaurant with Eiling (who is going to give me some golden tickets) having little to expect.

seven dishes to sample, with original ingredients

As it turns out, Peony Garden serves Northern Nyonya food, which means they are actually from Penang, my hometown. The relatively new restaurant is run by a pair of siblings, Karen and Eugene Chew, whom despite knowing little about blogs and the way of cyber world, were very friendly (especially when we arrived at our common mother tongue, Penang Hokkien).

We were served the unique “green leaves drink” that is made of seven different types of grass and leaves. It tasted pretty refreshing though slightly on the sweeter side. The owners explained to us that many of the ingredients used are sourced from Penang and other states, and Karen cooks everything from scratch, the traditional way, even the sambal is made by pounding fresh chili and shrimp paste by hand.

Penang otak-otak, asam prawn, curry black pomphret, salted vegetable duck soup

We were then served seven dishes, and I recognized what they were instantly without having to be explained! Tau eu bak (soya sauce pork), asam prawn, curry bawal hitam (black pomphret), salted vegetable duck soup, Penang otak-otak, jui hu char (fried sengkuang with dried cuttle fish), and fried spring roll. These are the dishes I grew up with, the memory of mom working in her kitchen flashes back like a tsunami wave, the familiar smell, the sound of sengkuang sizzling in the wok, and how she always peel the asam shrimps for us. I wish mom was here to have this session with me.

In the taste department, the food actually measured up very well. The asam prawn, cooked with asam and dark soya sauce carries a strong and fragrant asam taste that is slightly salty and sourish, complementing the sweetness of the shrimp perfectly. The fish curry is done the traditional way as well, with black pomphret and a generous portion of laksa flower that adds to the taste. There is no substitute with another type of fish as “lemak” (fatty) taste of the black pomphret suits the asam curry best.

soya sauce pork, jui hu char, spring roll

I personally always prefer the Penang style otak-otak, and the version at Peony, though not the best I’ve had, was not bad either. As for salted vegetable duck soup, it might take a little used to if you are not accustomed to it, sourish and slightly spicy, I liked it.

Jui hu char is a dish that is cooked by many Penang family whenever they worship ancestors (don’t ask me why). It is best eaten with some sambal and wrapped with fresh lettuce, much like the way you’d have Korean BBQ meat. The deep fried spring rolls actually shares the main ingredient (sengkuang) with jiu hu char, but served with a unique blend of dark soya source and chili that gives it a pretty interesting taste, in a good way.

If you’ve followed this blog for some time, you know that I am a pork lover. The tau eu bak here was absolutely fantastic, cooked for hours to the very soft and tender texture, the soya sauce is imported from Nothern state to get the taste just right. Coupled with the original sambal, I had to fight with Eiling till the last piece, it was as good as it is sinful.

green leaf drinks, and eiling with the Peony plate

Dishes are priced from RM 8 to RM 20+, pretty decent even though the portions aren’t big. Authentic foods are hard to come by these days, and I don’t think you can get them any more authentic than here. A family run restaurant that prepares everything painstakingly the traditional way. I am sure I will return.

Poeny Garden is just 5 minutes away from IKEA/Ikano/Curve

The restaurant also host private events and birthday parties. If you like it the old school way with nasi kunyit, curry chicken, and hard boiled egg for your baby’s full moon, they do it too.

Lunch: Tue to Fri 11am - 2pm
Dinner: Tue to Sun 6 - 10pm

Address:
16-1, Jalan PJU 5/10,
Dataran Sunway, Kota Damansara,
47810 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.150886, 101.593237
Tel: 03-6141 8323

Tags:  asam,  authentic,  baba,  cuisine,  cuttle fish,  food,  nyonya,  otak-otak,  poeny garden,  pomphret

Posted by KY | 43 Comments »

It was a particularly eventful two week period prior to the start of this month. There were three events I attended, the Nokia N-Gage launch and Happy winner announcement invited by PR extraordinaire David Lian and the Hennessy Artistry at Aloha from Nuffnang thanks to Nicholas.

notice the N96? Jason, Suan, Kim, and Wenqi was there too

The Nokia N-Gage launch fell on the 22nd at Cafe Libre. We were introduced with the Nokia N-Gage gaming platform with their latest games, and I got a free full fledge game for my N82 from the good people at Nokia!

Mobile gaming has actually came a very long way, the graphics on my phone is just as good as the first generation PlayStation console, and you can even hook it on TV to play. As connectivity is everything on a mobile phone, many games also support multi-player gaming via N-Gage arena. You can compare score, play with each other, read reviews and ratings on new games, buy games online, and even chatting up with fellow gamers.

The game that I chose (we were given one free game) was the Space Impact Kappa Base, I remember playing the very same title on Sheryl’s old Nokia monochrome phone some 5-6 years ago when we were staying in Northern Virginia. The graphic is so awesome now and I found myself rather addicted to it. Newspaper is now optional in toilet. Check it out, awesome stuff.

Yeay Kim and I won the newspaper dancing game! (pics from Louis Photography)

Last Tuesday was the Happy Moment winner announcement event at Isthmus (their chicken wing was very good!), Mid Valley North Point. The participants from the top Happy blog entries and Happy videos were presence. I was very impressed with the top 2 videos shown, the organizer was torn between the two and ended up giving two first prize instead. See them here.

Of course, every Happy event comes with fun & games. I won myself some Jusco voucher again. Me and Kim also participated in this standing on newspaper dancing contest thingy and won it thanks to our awesome fit body that are also space efficient. The prize was some Body Shop merchandise that I could actually use as well. Nice!

Aloooohaaaa, party people! (pics from Jack)

Last Saturday’s Hennessy Artistry at Aloha was one of the better clubbing nights I can remember. Free booze all night long (not that I can drink at all), plenty of friends in the VIP area. Nuffnang had 3 tables with a few dozen people at the event, it was awesome.

People on photo:
1: Nicholas, KY, Eiling
2: Rachel, KY, Nicholas, Dree
3: Yap Thomas, KY, Nadia
4: KY & Rachel

The drinks were good, and music pretty decent, but above all, of course, is the company. There were some old buddies like shiang, dree, and new friends whom I’ve met less than a couple times, like chocolate lady Eiling and sister, the lanky Yap Thomas, the party girl Nadia, the drunkard Stephanie Kok, and more. It was fun!

I’m tired.

Tags:  aloha,  eiling,  happy moments,  kimberly,  n-gage,  nicholas,  nokia,  party,  rachel,  space impact,  suan

Posted by KY | 28 Comments »

Earlier this month I was invited to the Wild Rice restaurant at Mid Valley Boulevard hotel for a food review session courtesy of foodstreet. I looked through the list of my MSN and found a dinner partner in Ringo to go there with me. (you know, a fehmes blogger to increase my street cred.)

wild rice restaurant, with indoor and outdoor seatings

The wild rice restaurant is situated on the 9th floor with nice indoor seatings as well as the open terrace with a beautiful pool view.

We were greeted by the friendly communication manager Mr. Huang, and shortly after that the dishes started coming in. The good chef prepared eight dishes for just the three of us for the night. Other than their weekend buffet, Wild Rice restaurant serves Malaysian food as well as Western dishes.

clay pot chicken rice, char kueh teow, Penang seafood hor fun

Our first dish of the night was none other than Char Kueh Teow. I usually have my reservations when it comes to this dish, but the chef (who has a very strong Penang tie) actually pulled this off rather well. The good size prawns, chives, bean sprouts, and egg combined to deliver a dish that tasted pretty good.

Similarly, the Penang Hor Fun was very nice as well. I like the way the egg is done with the yolk still half cooked while the white spread over the flat noodle. The hor fun comes with prawns, squid, dory fish fillet, and vegetables.

The chef also prepared two versions of clay pot chicken rice for us, the more usual recipe with salted fish, and a version with century egg. Although I love century eggs, I think the combination is a little weird though, this little experiment from the chef didn’t turn out very great (the dish is not on the menu). Then again, I always applaud chefs who are willing to experiment.

Hainanese chicken chop, avocado burger, pan fried salmon, oxtail soup

Then there’s the very crispy and juicy Hainanese chicken chop that I wish I have a bigger stomach to eat more. The chicken chop consists of 1/4 quarter chicken with thigh and drumstick, fresh button mushroom in brown sauce with some mixed vegetables, and of course, fries. (I wonder if they have fries in Hainan, but lets not digress)

The pan fried salmon was good as well, but I think the most interesting dish for the day goes to the avocado burger. This vegetarian dish has beet root, cheese, butter, and a generous serving of sliced avocado. If you had California Roll, you know how avocado tastes like. The combination of avocado relish, and cheese in the bun was actually delicious.

the good chef and Ringo

Ringo’s favorite dish, if my memory serves me correct, was the Malaysian oxtail soup. It wasn’t too spicy nor tasted too strongly. The soup was just nice with the meat tender and the carrots soft, serving it in a clay pot does help by keeping the temperature.

Boulevard Hotel is situated at the North Court of Mid Valley City

The best thing about Wild Rice restaurant is the fact that it is open 24 hrs a day. To me this spells the end of mamak after midnight show especially if I’m at Mid Valley.

As for price, I think they are pretty reasonable for a hotel. Soup is RM15; the burger and other local dishes are around RM 18 to RM 22. Expect to pay slightly more for western dishes, but the portions are pretty big. The good news is that the prices are nett, no extra 10% or 5%. I like that.

Address:
Mid Valley City,
Lingkaran Syed Putra,
59200 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.119262, 101.677802
Tel: 03-2295 8000

Tags:  avocado,  char-kueh-teow,  chicken-chop,  chicken-rice,  ckt,  claypot,  local food,  mid valley,  oxtail soup,  salmon,  wild rice

Posted by KY | 32 Comments »