A week or so ago I was invited to the launch of Weissbrau’s new menu at Pavilion KL, the German restaurant that is partly owned by a friend whom we used to play badminton with in like, 2006.
Five years later he runs this German restaurant that serves a variety of beer and pork, while the rest of us.. well..
Good food, awesome beer, and one lousy band
The launch of new menu was a pretty rowdy affair, there were the usual suspects – Reta, Elfie, Gareth and Kim, Michael, Cumi & Ciki, BangsarBabe, and more. Heck, there were even some Russian models.. who were probably just there for some free noms & booze, but did contribute to the overall almost-European ambiance.
it’s all about the beer – Carlsberg, Erdinger, Leffe
There were plenty of good beer to go around, there’s Erdinger, Leffe, Franziskaner, Hoegaarden, and more. For those who prefer local stuff perhaps due to budgetary constraints, there do have Carlsberg and Tuborg too.
plenty of good German food to go around
And yes, food. We were served buffet style so the presentation here isn’t exactly the best. There were the usual suspects – classic Frankfurter, meatloaf, pork burger, and even pork neck. The salads were pretty awesome too.
The new menu can be found on their facebook page, including prices.
fun time is what we had!
The kitchen is headed by a Swiss German chef, and has been pretty good on my previous few visits there.
As for this launch, we had a great time, and could have been better if the band was any good. They call themselves Mad Sally, a word play of sort since the members are all whites, or almost white, I think.
In any case, they play pretty good music, but both the vocalists can’t sing for nuts. It was only on the 3rd hour onwards that we started to enjoy the music, when there were enough alcohol in our system to render a much greater tolerance in acoustic quality.
But hey, it was still an awesome party!
Most of us associate Kilkenny as one of those premium beers you get from fancy pubs and restaurants, places like Bernard’s and Sid’s Pub, and indeed this is true, Kilkenny draught can be found in all those places.
But now, one the fastest growing beer in this country has just gotten even more accessible, we have Kilkenny in the bottle!
Kilkenny can now be found at food courts like Ming Tien!
I was just at Ming Tien the other day, taking a break out of all these home cooking activities and just decided to have a light meal and a bit of relaxation during the week. We ordered a couple bottles of Kilkenny to go with asam laksa and takoyaki.
Penang asam laksa, takoyaki, kilkenny
The beer came in a bucket of ice to keep chilled, and two small glasses. I actually like small glasses cos you don’t ever let the beer go warm (I don’t drink fast enough I guess).
The best part was, it only costs RM 18.80 for the two bottles. A pretty good deal for premium beer if you ask me. 
So far as taste goes, it was still the same Kilkenny good taste that I’m familiar with, but with one small distinction: The draught version is nitrogenated to give it a smooth, creamy head. However, the bottled version enjoy the ability of staying chilled in ice bucket and only pour as you drink, I really can’t pick a favorite here. At the end of the day it is still essentially Kilkenny.
KY & Haze having a good beer over supper
The laksa though, wasn’t exactly premium and can’t hold a candle to it’s Penang counterparts, or even the Kedah laksa at Alison nearby, but they don’t sell Kilkenny there, hehe.
Takoyaki wasn’t the best either, but at least it was a decent snacks since my favorite fried dumpling stall at Ming Tien was not in operation that day.
You can also find Kilkenny at selected pubs and bars, food courts, restaurants, and cafes such as Kepong Food Court, Frontera Bar & Grill in Jaya One, Station 1 cafes and more.
Address:
Ming Tien Hawker Center
Jalan SS24/8, Taman Megah,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.114334, 101.611658
Whenever Brussels Beer Cafe is mentioned, most people immediately think of groups of people drinking a variety of mostly imported beer. The name “beer cafe” certainly contributes to that impression.
However, Brussels is more than just a place beer, as I found out on this invited food review session organized Michael, the dude who is known for his alcoholic beverages review column.
Brussels Beer Cafe, at Solaris Mont Kiara
While waiting for the others to come, I noticed this little gadget they have at the bar – instant glass chiller (or whatever you call that).
This thing spews out really cold water and instantly chills beer glass to almost freezing temperature. Very nifty, there is no need to have tonnes of beer mugs kept in fridge all the time.
Brussels summer fruit salad, moules Hoegaarden / mariniere
The first dish was Brussels Summer Fruit Salad, fresh tasting but otherwise not particularly special. It is a salad dish for those who really want a low calorie meal (sans the cheese, of course.)
Then came moules Hoegaarden / mariniere (mussels marinated with Hoegaarden). I thought it is a bit of an overkill to imported beer for marinate, but the mussels really does taste very good. The serving isn’t exactly big though, and the dish came across a bit pricey (close to RM 50 if I remember correctly, well, did I say imported beer?)
prawn bisque, potatoe skin, blind finches, chicken waterzooi
I thought prawn bisque is like the poor man’s lobster bisque, but it turned out to be pretty much a thicker, cream version of Penang prawn noodle soup. It’s pretty interesting to be honest, but I reckon not everyone’s taste.
Potato skin goes well as beer food, I thought blind finches (beef with ham all rolled up, Dutch dish) was pretty good too, if not just a little bit too strong a taste in the beer gravy.
The chicken waterzooi, a traditional Belgium dish, did not click with me. I thought it was just buttery breast meat without much kick in it. Your mileage might vary.
roast pork – one of my favorites!
The roast pork at Brussels has got to be my favorite dish. The style differs from traditional hawker version (ala Wong Kee), the skin is a lot less crispy but instead the overall texture much softer. Flavor is quite intense and I love it with mustard, very lovely actually!
pork knuckle – fit for a group!
The pork knuckle, ironically, tastes pretty close to traditional roast pork instead of what you’d expect from normal pork knuckle ala German style. It was pretty good! Though I think the gravy could be improved a bit, perhaps chicken rice style chili paste?
brussels style pork bacon cheese burger, grilled baby beef ribs, the big one
I didn’t try the pork bacon cheese burger, but those who did liked it. The grilled baby beef ribs was juicy and sumptuous, and the big one brought really did make a big impact on its size, but I think you’ll need about 4 hungry souls to finish one serving.
we were obviously having tonnes of fun at Brussels
As for beverages, Brussels of course never disappoint. We had Hoegaarden, Blackthorn cider, and Paulaner Konig Ludwig and Franzkainer too.
It was overall a very enjoyable session, chef Pele (what a name, right?) and Mike Chang the manager were very friendly chaps whom I’d hope to meet again.
Address:
Brussels Beer Café, Solaris
Lot K-OG 13 & 14, SoHo KL,
No. 2, Jalan Solaris, Mon’t Kiara
50480 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.174689, 101.659595
Tel: 03-6205 2999
The holiday season is coming, the malls are already having x’mas decorations, and we’re all looking forward to the festivities. Hohohoho
To me though, this is also a time to catch up with some old young friends over a several glasses of drinks.
I was chatting online with Pinky over some work and suddenly realized that we actually haven’t properly met again ever since she came back from Melbourne. Earlier in the conversation we were just talking about beer, and in particular, Kilkenny.
So I asked her to join us for dinner at Bernard’s where they serve Kilkenny draught.
KY at Bernard’, Centrepoint, BU
To some, Kilkenny might still be a pretty foreign brand (Haze never had it until now). I actually first learnt it from Suan and FA not very long ago. The Irish cream ale has a head that’s risen, pretty similar to Guinness draught, it is also very smooth and carries a full flavor.
Pinky, Haze, and a couple pints of Kilkenny
A small amount of roasted barley gives this beer the distinct reddish tint that also adds to the flavor. I like it, the girls do too.
If you are a beer fan and haven’t had a taste of Kilkenny, give it a try. There are now over 200 locations where it is served, a pint usually goes at around RM 20, there are places that have 3 for RM 50 too.
pesto pasta with grilled chicken, chinese style pork chop
Dinner was a Chinese style pork chop served with steamed rice (RM 23) for me, and the Pesto Pasta with grilled chicken (RM 20) for Haze.
I liked the capsicum sauce served with the pork chop but thought the meat was a little too lean though, you’ll like it more if overly fatty pork isn’t your craving.
The pesto pasta though, was excellent. I mean, just look at the piece of grilled chicken thigh there and tell me if it wasn’t beautiful? I am going to order this next time, definitely goes well with the Kilkenny!
What will be under your tree this year?
Address:
G9A-14, Centrepoint,
Jalan Leboh Bandar Utama,
47800 Petaling Jaya
Selangor
GPS: 3.137988, 101.610124
Tel: 03-7710 3188
The very first Oktoberfest is said to be taken place in Munich on October 12, 1810 to commemorate the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. They decided to do it again the very next year since it was a lot more successful than everyone anticipated.
However, it is pretty safe to say that even the original couple couldn’t have envisioned the appeal of Oktoberfest to be this huge. It took 200 years, but Oktoberfest is now a in full swing right here in KL! (someone should edit the Oktoberfest Celebrations article in Wikipedia if it’s not done already).
Five big celebrations of Oktoberfest happened right here in Malaysia, SOULed Out, Sid’s TTDI, and Laundry Bar in KL, Upper Penang Road in, well, Penang, and Waterfront in Kota Kinabalu.
In conjunction with Oktoberfest, Tiger Beer has some pretty awesome promotions too:
I went to Sid’s to break my Oktoberfest virginity.
To be honest, the celebration turned out to be quite a lot bigger than I had anticipated. There was a big tent set up outside Sid’s, with hundreds of people partying right on the streets (this despite the fact that it was a weekday too), check out the video above.
FA w/ 1 liter beer mugs, Terence, Zess, Haze, Joyce, Cindy, Ringo, and even a baby!
It was an awesome party, with dancing, singing, lotsa great beer – Tiger, Guinness, Heineken, Paulaner, Kilkenny, Strongbow.
One of the things we did over the evening was getting people to sign up under our team. Everyone was friendly, and everyone was super happy, it was a blast.
This being at Sid’s, there’s always food that goes well with Oktoberfest, and of course I didn’t waste the opportunity to have some awesome pork sausage for dinner!
This is gonna be bigger next year, I’m already anticipating Oktoberfest 2011, bring it on!
