To commemorate my last day of work at KL and the hot chick’s vacation back to Malaysia. I decided that we should have a nice dinner at more exclusive place, a fine dining experience that is worthy of the occasion. It wasn’t difficult to choose Cilantro at Micasa Hotel, consistently voted as one of the best restaurants in KL. So I made the reservation last Tuesday and we headed downtown last Saturday night.

nice ambiance, truffle butter and the tiger prawn with fish roe

Micasa Hotel is not exactly easy to find, I would have been unfashionably late if I didn’t have trusted N95’s GPS navigation system guiding me to the restaurant. The somewhat hidden location gives an exclusive feel to the restaurant, the ambiance is very nice with the minimalistic deco, a Zen like environment.

Our waiter was very good, giving us the specials of the day and explaining the dishes in a professional manner. I ordered the dishes based on suggestions by Kelvin (who probably spent a small fortune dining there over the years). While waiting for our first dish to be served, we had some bread with the truffle butter. We were also served the excellent tiger prawn with fish roe, complimentary from the chef.

wagyu tartar (raw beef) and foie gras unagi

For starters, we had the Wagyu Tartare and Foie Gras Unagi. The wagyu tartare came with anchovy toast, egg mollet and Aioli sauce. Having been missing the raw beef sashimi I had in Tokyo, I just had to order this dish. The aioli sauce goes very well with the raw beef and egg, and the contrasting texture provided by the toast makes this dish such a delight to chew down.

The Foie Gras Unagi was very rich. Two generous slab of lightly cooked foie gras sandwiched between the grilled eel gives a very oily and rich texture that is best had with the accompanying salad. This dish is perfect for someone who loves fatty taste (in a good way).

wagyu with wasabi crust and duck breast with foie gras

For our main dish, I had the foie gras with duck breast while the hot chick had wagyu beef with wasabi crust. I had been missing foie gras since the Zipangu experience more than 2 months ago, so a generous slab of foie gras was not to be missed. The duck breast was really great, so succulent and tender. I had never imagined duck meat to taste as good as this, coupled with the foie gras and a piece of radish and some vegetable for contrasting texture and character, it was just perfect.

The wagyu beef with wasabi crust was served with some seared mushrooms. I had a taste and thought it was excellent as well, the beef so tender you could cut it just using the spoon. The crust gave it a more sophisticated taste. The mushrooms were equally as good. However, I suggest against choosing the combination of Foie Gras Unagi and the Wagyu as the combination can be a little too rich.

chocolate cupcake with earl grey ice cream

After the very satisfying main course, we ordered the chocolate cupcake with earl grey ice cream to share. If the appetizers and main dishes were excellent, the dessert was really out of this world. The chocolate cupcake has a molten core and the taste was just so good it was beyond words. Having the hot chocolate flows in your mouth while chewing some berries was just heaven on earth. The earl grey ice cream was quite unique though not too different from the green tea ice cream I had at Zipangu, it was very good.

The appetizers and main dishes were priced at around RM58 to RM68 while the dessert at RM32. With drinks, the associated tax and service charge, the dinner came to around RM361. Though it isn’t something I can afford on a regular basis, the experience was worth every cent.

Cilantro Restaurant at Micasa Hotel

By the way, Cilantro is closing at the end of the year as Micasa is geared for a year long renovation. They are set to open an outlet at Midvalley Gardens with the same chef, though there will be changes in the menu. There are only 3 weeks left if you are to have the Cilantro experience.

Address:
Micasa Hotel Apartments
368B Jalan Tun Razak,
Kuala Lumpur 50400
GPS: 3.156874, 101.722530
Tel: 03-2161 8833

Tags:  beef,  cilantro,  cupcake,  duck,  fine dining,  foie-gras,  french japanese,  hotel,  micasa,  unagi,  wagyu

Posted by KY | 21 Comments »

One of the least appreciated hawker food in Penang is Koay Chap (粿汁), a dish that is not offered at many places in Penang, and so far I have not been able to find any place that sells this in Klang Valley.

the stall is located at Wah Meng kopitiam

One of the most famous Koay Chap stalls is at Air Itam, I remember being introduced to this dish by my parents before the Penang Bridge was built. It seems like the stall is being operated by the younger generation these days.

The dish has a slightly different type of “noodle” that has the characteristics of both pan mee and kueh teow, a sort of thicker kueh teow with different texture (refer to the photo below). Duck meat, innards, coagulated blood, and hard-boiled duck egg makes up the rest of the ingredients. All these are served in a bowl of duck flavored soup that is darkish in color. Thai chili and soya sauce accompanied the dish.

all the good stuff from duck, nothing is wasted

If you are a fan of duck meat and has the nerve to try all the innards and all, this is definitely the dish you should not miss when heading up north. I personally love the taste as well as the uniqueness of this dish. The less adventurous can still order the same dish with only duck meat and the egg.

this stall is just a stone’s throw away from the laksa place

This stall operates in the morning, the same time as the morning wet market. If my memory serves me correct, a bowl goes for RM 2.50 or 3.00.

Address:
Jalan Air Hitam,
Ayer Itam, Penang
GPS: 5.400296, 100.277903

Tags:  air-itam,  duck,  hawker,  koay-chap,  kopitiam,  Penang

Posted by KY | 10 Comments »

I’ve heard about the roast duck rice at Loong Foong Restaurant for quite a some time, but since one of my housemates do not consume duck and a failed attempt to dine there (they ran out), I finally had the chance to let my taste buds judge what the fuss was all about.

yes, it’s a “seafood” restaurant

The odd thing about the roast duck rice stall is the location of it, at the Loong Foong seafood restaurant. I assume there are quite a lot of people who orders the duck as just another dish instead of as the only item to be eaten with rice. I wasn’t interested in seafood that day, so we ordered up roast duck rice for two.

When the dish were served, I was pretty impressed with the duck at least visually, the skin roasted to the perfect dark golden brown color with some dark sauce over. I was not too thrilled about the rice though, they served normal white rice instead of the special blend of duck rice like what you get at the PJ State Loh Duck. However, a bite on the soft and tender duck explained why this place is so highly regarded, the texture of the meat was perfect, easy to chew and with no pungent duck smell that is undesireable to many. And the skin.. the roast duck skin was that of the Peking duck caliber, reminded me of a few times I had the chance to taste that expensive dish in a proper Chinese restaurant.

just look at the crispy duck skin

The chili sauce was pretty good as well, an extra portion of the dark sauce is served together with the dish for blending with the rice. This sort of make up for the fact that white rice is served, though I would still prefer the proper blend instead.

Despite the small shortcoming, the roast duck lives up to its name. This place is not to be missed if you do eat duck at all. The dinner costs about RM 14 for pretty a good portion of duck. I would definately go there again.

the restaurant is nearby the Giant hypermarket at Paramount

Address:
1 Jalan 20/13, Paramount Garden,
46300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.106085, 101.625595
Tel: 03-7876 9045

Tags:  duck,  Petaling-Jaya,  PJ,  roast-duck,  taman-paramount

Posted by KY | 24 Comments »

After posting about the seafood porridge at PJ state, there were a few people, including Saygore and Pam who left comments saying that I should check out the Lou Ngap Fan (卤鸭饭), or “loh” duck rice. So we did just that on a Saturday evening.

even got paranomic shot, stim or not?

Now as opposed to the more common roasted duck rice, this place serves the Lou Ngap (that’s in Cantonese). Instead of roasted, the duck is cooked in a thick gravy with lotsa flour, much like Loh Mee style.

are you hungry now?

We ordered a whole duck for the 6 of us, add sides dishes of salted vegetable, Chinese mushroom, boiled egg, and pork with vinegar. The duck was pretty awesome, with just the right texture, not too hard nor overly oily. The sauce/soup was in just the right viscosity, though I’d imagine it won’t be terribly good if it gets cold, but with 6 hungry souls, we never had that problem.

The pork was commendable, the mushroom goes well as a side dish, the eggs were alright. However, the salted vegetable is something rather interesting, it is served as is, with nothing accompanying. It wasn’t really very salty at all and does serve as a very good compliment to the duck. Much like how those marinated ginger goes well with sashimi in way of washing off the prior taste so that your taste bud is leave afresh for another bite. Highly recommended.

don’t you love those bank logos?

The stall starts serving at around 5pm and ends whenever they run out of duck, usually around 9pm or so. Give it a try if you’re around the area. You got the map anyway, right?

Also, check out spymy, a digg clone but concentrate more on regional blogs. A good compliment to pps & blogsmalaysia I’d say, give it a go.

Address:
8 Jalan Tengah
Off Jalan Yong Shook Lin
Petaling Jaya
GPS: 3.099378, 101.644478

Tags:  duck,  duck-rice,  kopitiam,  PJ,  state

Posted by KY | 16 Comments »