I was invited to an exclusive Guinness St. Patrick’s day Food Creation event at Nikko Hotel last Thursday thanks to Celine. All I knew about this event was that I get to sample a Guinness infused food, I was quite intrigued, as the only type of Guinness infused food I’ve ever had was Guinness pork ribs served by many Chinese tai chau places.
Guinness infused Lamb Shank
For the uninitiated, St. Patrick’s Day is an annual feast day which celebrate the patron saint of Ireland. It is traditionally observed on the 17th of March every year. Since this is a celebration of food and drinks, and Guinness is from Ireland, they came up with this Guinness infused Food Creation contest that runs until the end of the month. There are 9 outlets participating in this contest judged by celebrity Chef Emmanuel Stroobant of Chef in Black. The results will be out on the 25th of March.
chatting up with Chef Halil
This particular food tasting event was held at Bentley’s pub on first floor, a very cozy English pub setting with classy deco that seems so fitting for this occasion. I was greeted by Azira, the communication person at Nikko (who incidentally worked at the same place I am working now), the resident manager Ron Brooks, and of course, the very friendly Chef Halil. Besides all sorts of drinks (alcoholic or otherwise), they serve dishes such as fish and chips, steak, shepherd’s pie and so forth. However, until the 30th of March, the special addition to the menu is the Guinness Braised Lamb Shank on Sauteed Arrow Root Chips with Onion Jam, the very dish that is the competition. Best thing is, I get to eat it!
Christian from KL Lifestyle and Celine enjoying their lamb shank
As we were waiting for the lamb shank, chef Halil explained to me how the dish is cooked. First marinated with salt and pepper, the lamb shank is browned with vegetable oil on a flat pan. Then came the celery, carrots and onion, and then garlic cloves, tomato paste, then a whole bottle of Guinness stout. After that there’s the brown sauce and so forth. 1 hour and 15 minutes later, the dish is done. (I actually have the recipe from this friendly chef, but I guess I am in not hurry to try this myself just yet).
The lamb shank was very tasty and very tender, with a very subtle hint of bitterness from the stout but masterfully balanced with the sweetness of onion jam. The use of arrow root (ngaku) and other vegetables compliments the texture and taste of the lamb. It was very gastronomically satisfying, I think it’s a winner! Naturally, I had the lamb with a glass of Guinness Draught.
I just had to have a glass of this!
To try this dish, you have until the end of this month. It is available at RM 30++ at Bentley’s pub, Nikko Hotel (just right next to Citybank at Ampang Park).
GPS: 3.159767, 101.718045
Last Friday, the traveling Australian dude Dabido decided to spend a bunch of us to a vegetarian dinner on his last night in Kuala Lumpur. Suan decided that Jade Garden at Bandar Utama Centrepoint would be a good place for such occasion because she knows the food is great, or maybe just because it is a place close enough for her to walk there with her under utilized legs.
acha as appetizer, and the 4 season dish
Dinner was scheduled at 8, but inadvertently we only got to eat at around 9pm. I guess it is a good thing cos we were able to show Dabido the full extend of our culture, including the Malaysian Timing when it comes to having a group dinner. There was 14 of us split into 2 tables, and Suan ordered the food for everyone. Nice and dandy.
imitation luncheon meat, tofu, imitation fish with mango salad, fried vegetable
We had about 7 dishes in total. There’s the 4 season dish with some imitation meat and fake fish balls that actually tasted quite good despite it being a cold dish. The tofu soup was more like a thick broth that goes well with rice, I like the fungus that came with it. Then there’s my favorite, the imitation luncheon meat that tasted almost as good as the real thing minus the oily bit.
kang kung with nuts, tomyam soup, and the bunch of jokers
The imitation fish tasted pretty decent as well, and with no real fish in there, you don’t have to worry about getting your neck pierced by fish bones, which isn’t a particularly nice thing to do, speaking from experience. There’s also a fried kailan that tasted just like any fried kailan you’d expect. Other than that, we also have a fried kang kung dish with nuts and some imitation seafood that I didn’t think tasted very good, slightly too sourish with the imitation seafood a poor substitute for the real thing.
However, the tomyam soup with imitation squid and some very real tomato was an excellent dish. It was actually one of the best tomyam soup I’ve tasted and surely a must-order item if you find yourself at Jade Garden.
Jaime, Suan, Dabido, Jack, Erna, Reta, Paul, Kim, ST, Tim, Samantha
In all, it was a very good meal, and the total bill came to about RM 370 for 14 of us. That translate to about RM 26 per person for a pretty good vegetarian meal. The price is just slightly more than the Restaurant Kuan Yin at Seksyen 17 that I went, but with a nicer ambiance and free and easy to find parking spots at Centrepoint.
Thanks Dabido, see you at Perth!
map to BU Centrepoint
Address:
Centrepoint, Bandar Utama,
Petalig Jaya, 47800 Selangor
GPS: 3.137988, 101.610124
Tel: 03-7710 2939
Of the many types of dried fruits available, from raisins and prunes to dried guava, my favorite has got to be the dried mango. The sweet sourish taste of mango in the easy and convenient to eat package makes a very good office snack.
absolutely delicious dried mango from Cebu, Phillipines
Furthermore, this stuff has plenty nutritional values. Lots of potassium, vitamin C, and most importantly, good amount of fiber for those who might have digestive inconveniences but do not fancy prunes. Dehydrated mango is believed to preserve all the nutritious properties of the fresh fruit (or so they say).
I have tasted three different brands of dried mango from Philippines, two found at Isetan at KLCC, the Joy Mangoes, and 7D Mangoes, with the third, CEBU (also the name of the province that produces the best mangoes in Philippines) brought back by my buddy ShaolinTiger all the way from its country of origin.
The taste of all three brands are comparable to each other, and way superior to the local brands I have tried. However, a 100 gm pack of imported dried mango goes for RM 8+, while the local brands are around RM 3+. In this case though, you get what you paid for. The local stuff is just too sweet and lacking the distinct mango sourness and aroma.
Give it a try, this is really good.
Post originally appeared on MonsterBlog
A few weeks ago the three of us: Rachel, Kelvin, and myself were doing some shopping around the city that somehow brought us to Bangsar Village Shopping Centre. It was almost dinner time, so we were starting to look into potential places for dinner. After the unpleasant experience at Kim Gary, I would normally not look at another HK style restaurant, but the picture of the DongPo Pork (東坡肉) dish proved too difficult to resist…
glorious DongPo pork
Background on this dish:
DongPo Pork is said to be created by accident when the famous poet Su DongPo (蘇東坡) started to cook pork out of boredom, his friend came and challenged him a game of chess which took his mind away from the cooking until the fragrance of pork came out from the kitchen. Viola! the famous dish is created. According to one recipe, the dish takes about 4 hours to cook.
nice ambiance at an up-class shopping mall
The DongPo pork did not disappoint, it was truly a mouth watering dish especially for a pork lover. The texture is very soft and tender, you can easily pry the meat apart with your spoon or even just chopsticks. Broccoli offsets the texture and tastes of the pork fat and everything goes very well with rice. However, the 3 pieces of giant pork belly proved too much for my stomach, and I will recommend anyone to share the dish instead. I would have finished it if I had a bigger stomach.
the other dishes, including noodle and pork patties with salted fish
The other two noobs had some sort of noodle and pork patties with salted fish rice. They rated the dishes favorably, and we also had a plate of vegetable to share. I remember that the DongPo pork was RM 18 while the other dishes are comparable to any other HK style restaurants, usually priced at around RM 8-12. If you are a pork belly lover, don’t miss out this good stuff.
bangsar village
Bangsar Village Shopping Centre is located at Bangsar’s famous Telawi Road, just a stone’s throw away from the Laksa Sarawak stall that I blogged about last year.
Address:
Lot F9, 1st Floor,
No 1, Jalan Telawi
Bangsar Village Shopping Centre
Bangsar Baru, 59100 KL
GPS: 3.130435, 101.670088
Tel: 03-2287 8833
When it comes to food in the historical town that is Melaka, there are a few items that you must never miss. Kinda like the Char Kueh Teow and Laksa in Penang, the must-eat items in Melaka are Satey Celup (video!), Chendol, Poh Piah, and of course, perhaps the most famous of all, the Chicken Rice Ball.
very old school set up, with marble table
Chung Wah restaurant (中华茶室) is one of the very first, and regarded by many, the best chicken rice ball restaurant in Melaka. It is also perhaps the most accessible one, with a paid car park just right beside the building, across from the St. Paul’s church (another must visit place in Melaka).
The place is always packed during weekends, and almost impossible to get in during festive seasons. After fighting through a small crowd to get our table, we ordered a middle portion chicken meat with 2 plates of chicken rice balls (5 balls per plate)
chicken, rice balls, and chili, we’re all set
The chicken came with only one style, white chicken, since this is a pure Hainanese restaurant, no roasted or BBQ variety. The meat was smooth and tasted rather good, with sufficient flavor in all departments. The chili that is so important to any chicken rice dish was actually very good, has a kick in it while retaining a savory pepper aroma, addictive. The main attraction, the rice balls themselves, were somehow rather cold, but otherwise tasted pretty good. It is like having Bak Chang made of chicken rice, an interesting experience if you haven’t tried it.
Chung Wah restaurant is right at the end/beginning of Jonker Walk
The meal for two was about RM 13-14, RM 8 for the chicken, and RM 1.50 for a plate of 5 rice balls.
Address:
Kedai Kopi Chung Wah
18, Jalan Hang Jebat,
75200 Melaka
GPS: 2.194969,102.248576
