Spanish cuisine isn’t exactly very wide spread in this county. As far as I’m aware, there are only a handful of restaurants that go the whole deal instead of only having some tapas on the menu.

As the new kid on the block (just barely a month old when I visited), El Meson is true to its Spanish origin, from tapas to iberico pork. I was overjoyed when I saw El Meson on the list of restaurants that are running the Merry Guinness promotion, and chose to come here without thinking twice.

El Meson at Bangsar Telawi 3

Situated at Telawi 3 just right across Bangsar Village 2, El Meson is a pretty nicely decorated restaurant. There’s the bar with a proper Guinness tab and seating areas around it. Dining tables sprawled around the 2-shop lot restaurant with at least half a dozen tables set along the walkway ala alfresco.

It is a pretty chic yet comfortable set up along the busy street.

cold cuts as appetizer, Guinness the main meal, chocolate cake the dessert

To start off dinner, we ordered the cold cuts as appetizer. The menu stated – iberico, serrano, parma, salami, salchichon with melon & olive (RM68); which basically means a few different types of very delicious pork with some olives and rock melon. They were really, really delicious. It was no less than what I had at Bermuda and Onions over a year ago.

And of course, the pint of Guinness went very well with the meat, saltiness of the cured pork versus sweetness of the melon versus the slight bitterness of the black beer = perfection.

Chilean sea bass, Capellini aglio olio with prawns and scallops

For our mains, Karen and I ordered the Chilean sea bass spaghetti (RM 46, one of the two dishes that comes free with a perfect pint of Guinness during the promotion) while Elfie chose to have Capellini Aglio Olio with prawns and scallops (RM 39.)

Both dishes were quite excellent, the sea bass fresh and not over cooked, with the pasta and its sauce tasting just right too. Elfie too gave her thumbs up for the aglio olio, now if you know Elfie you’d know that this girl can be very critical, if it’s not good, she’ll just tell it to your face that it is horrible and then proceed to blog about how bad it is on her blog.. or something like that.

KY, Karen, and Elfie with some Guinness

We capped off the night with a couple more glasses of Guinness and a slice of chocolate cake to share. While the food was great, service at the restaurant proved to be slightly slow at first, probably due to the fact that they were just opened.

However, the manager Miguel (a guy with Spanish origin, no less!) was very friendly and did take care of us exceedingly well. I am sure this place warrants many returns.

This occasion also served as a testament that good food and drinks can bring people together, Elfie is the first fellow Kadazan girl that Karen met despite having stayed in this region for 4-5  years already. Here’s one to Guinness!

For more information on Guinness 250 anniversary promotion and the list of participating outlets, check out Guinness Malaysia facebook page. You can also find all my previous posts with Guinness (including last year’s promotion) here.

Address:
El Meson espanol
No. 61-63, Jalan Telawi 3,
Bangsar Baru, 59100 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.130435,101.670978
Tel: 03-2282 8290

Tags:  Bangsar,  elfie,  guinness,  karen,  parma ham,  pork,  spanish cuisine

Posted by KY | 28 Comments »

Other than nasi lemak and bak kut teh, one of my favorite local food of all time must be banana leaf rice. My usual fix for this Southern Indian dish is at Kanna Curry House, since it is rather good and pretty close to where I stay. Mell, however, insist that the best banana leaf rice is this particular Restaurant Nirwana Maju at Bangsar.

Restaurant Nirwana Maju Banan Leaf Rice

Nirwana, as the restaurant is commonly referred to, is located at the heart of the most happening area at Bangsar, just right across Bangsar Village on Jalan Telawi 3. Street parking can be a bit challenging most of the time, but parking at Bangsar Village shouldn’t cost more than a couple ringgit for a meal.

fried brinjal, potato, cucumber, with 2 curries and dal

For those who are not familiar with banana leaf rice:

• a clean and preferably fresh sheet of banana leaf
• rice with usually 3 types of vegetables
• choices of curry and/or dal
• condiments such as deep fried salted chili
• usually also serve with papadum

As you can guessed, the standard banana leaf rice is basically a vegetarian dish. However, you can always add fish, mutton, chicken, fried fish roe and squid, and a host of other side dishes for a meal worthy of any glutton.

Mell and KY, deep fried brinjal & papadem at Nirwana

The rice and curry at Nirwana is as good as any that I’ve had, but the really special item here is one of their standard vegetable served that I haven’t come across anywhere else – deep fried eggplant (the green and white type). The crispy yet savory batter and the sweetness of eggplant is a combination that proved to be very addictive, I love it!

Sri Nirwana Maju banana leaf rice is located next to Bangsar Village

Two sets of banana leaf rice with an order of fish or fried chicken and drinks usually come to some RM 15 for two person. Still pretty reasonably priced despite being located at Bangsar. If you love banana leaf rice, give this one a try!

Address:
Sri Nirwana Maju 43 Jalan Telawi Tiga,
Bangsar Baru, 59100 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.131014,101.670892
Tel: 03-2287 8445

Tags:  banana leaf,  Bangsar,  Malaysia,  mamak,  mellissa

Posted by KY | 42 Comments »

Bangsar is one of the places I haven’t really explore that much as far as food goes, so it was a good opportunity for me to head there with my buddy Horng when I was informed of Ronnie Q restaurant and pub’s involvement in the Guinness-infused Christmas main course promotion.

Ronnie Q, a proper English pub

If you haven’t found out already, there are quite a few restaurants that are running the same Guinness-infused Christmas Menu (including Cafe Chulo at Jaya One I wrote about earlier, and more to come on this blog).

The promotion is pretty simple:

• order a Guinness-infused Christmas main course
• fill up a voucher with your details
• tear it in half and give the side with your details to the restaurant to redeem a pint of Guinness Draught
• keep the other half the the voucher to get RM12 off 3 pint of Guinness Draught on next visit

order main course, fill in voucher, gets a free Guinness Draught and a RM12 coupon too

As a restaurant/pub, Ronnie Q carries a pretty small but sufficient menu. Shepherd’s pie, ribeye steak, chicken chop, fish and chips, chicken boxing, burger, fish fingers, all the classic English foods

For the promotion, there is the Guinness-infused lamb chop, pork chop, and Hainanese pork chop. Horng and I decided to skip the poultry and went for lamb chop and pork chop instead. We also ordered deep fried calamari as appetizer.

deep fried calamari and 2 pints of Guinness Draught

The combination of deep fried calamari with Guinness turned out to be excellent. The big, fat, and juicy squid ring’s saltiness paired with the slight bitter after taste of Guinness Draught brings out the flavor of the seafood even more. Brilliant.

Guinness infused pork chop and lamb chop

The pork chop and lamb chop didn’t disappoint either. The sauce clearly carries a pretty distinct and yet subtle hint of Guinness in it. I do think while being a little unorthodox, the extra ingredient does add character to the otherwise pretty simple dishes that were served with potato wedges, baked beans, green beans, and some sliced mushrooms. The portions were rather generous too.

Ronnie Q is located in the heart of Bangsar Telawi area

An appetizer, two main dishes, and two pints of Guinness Draught at Bangsar, I would think the bill might be a little steep, but when the server handed me the bill, it was only RM 60.95. I almost couldn’t believe it, a very, very good deal indeed.

Good food, great drinks, and of course, as an added bonus, you get to sit alfresco and enjoy watching the ladies walk by the busy street that is Bangsar Telawi 2.

Address:
32, Jalan Telawi 2,
Bangsar Baru, 59100 KL
GPS: 3.131721, 101.671815
Tel: 03-2282 0722

Tags:  Bangsar,  calamari,  guinness,  horng,  lamb chop,  pork chop

Posted by KY | 29 Comments »

This year’s birthday has been particularly good, after 2 free meals from Suan & ST the night prior, I went to Sushi Zanmai at Gardens on Ringo’s treat (who also gave me a book as gift, thanks ) before heading to watch Gamarjobat thanks to complimentary tickets from Bangsar Actor Studio via Nuffnang.

Hello! Gamarjobat

Gamarjobat actually means “Hello” in Georgian, or “Herro” in Japanese, which is the country the 2 jokers, Ketch and Hiro-pon hail from. One with a yellow Mo-hawk and the other have it red.

This is in fact, my second time watching their show. Last year’s main feature was “The Boxer” which featured a very hillarious slow motion sequence, but this year’s “Western” did not disappoint either. You’ll have to be there at the horse riding and gun shootout parts in person to truly appreciate it. Their signatory fast pace intro and the very funny penguin rock star act adds was equally as hilarious.

The show will stay until 19th October, check the Actor Studio’s site for ticket pricing and schedule. If it is the only live act you’re going to watch this year, make it this one. I’m sure Ringo, Tim, Grace, and Audrey would agree, they were laughing at least as hard as me.

On a semi-related note, I had 2 more free meals in conjunction with the whole birthday thingy. Lorna spent me lunch at Ah Yip’s soup place at Plaza Damas, and Douglas bought me the 1/2 pound set at Wendy’s last night. Five free meals in a row, I must be the luckiest guy!

Tags:  Bangsar,  theater

Posted by KY | 14 Comments »

Last weekend I caught up with an old friend of mine, over sms she said she was gonna bring me to eat laksa at Bangsar. Now laksa is like handbags and shoes, girls seem to can’t have enough while guys are usually less enthusiastic it. I am one of those guys, but being a must-try-all person, I went with the flow anyway, despite the suspecious venue at Bangsar. I thought it might be at one of those modern restaurants.

the old school kopitiam, big bowl of laksa sarawak

After some twists and turns, we reached to the kopitiam that is situated in the housing area just opposite Bangsar Village. It was an old school place, which was a surprise. The young lady ordered the laksa sarawak for me.

Laksa Sarawak is slightly different from the Curry Laksa (also called curry mee), or Asam Laksa.It has a santan based curry soup, your choice of noodle of meehun, prawn, strips of chicken, shredded egg, bean sprout, and some mint leaves as garnish. Sambal and a piece of lime were given as a side too. Just look at the pics, *drools*

are you not drooling now? this stuff was great

Well, I gotta say I never knew Sarawak Laksa tasted so good. The soup was just creamy enough while not being too overly rich. I had initially thought the big bowl was too much but at the end it proved to be almost not enough. Definately one of the better hawker food I’ve had thus far in Klang Valley. As for the price, I wasn’t sure since I didn’t pay, but it was definately less than RM 5. Give it a try even if you’re not a laksa lover, you’ll not regret. I went there for brunch, I’m not entirely too sure if they sell till late in the afternoon though.

now this bangsar map is simply delightful, no?

GPS: 3.127575, 101.669487

updated:
open till around 3pm (thanks wye)
closed every wednesday (thanks PabloPabla)

Tags:  Bangsar,  bangsar-village,  hawker,  laksa,  laksa-serawak,  lorna

Posted by KY | 25 Comments »