A couple weeks ago baby Marco’s father invited me to have a food tasting session at this curiously named Bermuda and Onion at Cangkat Bukit Bintang. Since I was bringing a couple guests, he reminded me that this place serves pork, more pork, and nothing but pork! My drool started flowing just from hearing that magic sentence.

love the decoration of this place

During the weekend, parking around the area was surprisingly easy to find. We were greeted by this absolutely beautiful interior decoration the moment we stepped into the restaurant, the lime green wall, egg shaped lamp on the curvy ceiling fan, the patio, the bar, the chairs; this place looks like something out of a romantic movie, a striking contrast from the nearby Jalan Alor kopitiams.

bruschetta, parma ham with asparagus, prawn, and okra on skewers

As 2 of my buddies and I waited for TBG and her lesser half, we were served some bruschetta with olive oil and balsamic vinegar to start the day off. Very nice.

Then the pork dishes began, in a small way at first. Out of the three skewers we had, two of them had pork in it. The prawns and parma ham was absolutely fantastic, the asparagus and bacon was equally delicious with it’s contrasting texture and taste of vegetable vs meat. Ladies fingers and tomato gave a pretty good balance to counter the meat just a little. It was a very good start, and I was quite impressed already.

cold cuts, caesar salad, parma ham with rock melon

To warm up our stomach further before the main dishes, we were presented three other appetizers: cold cuts, caesar salad, and prosciutto and melone.

The cold cuts came with three different types of meat with some olives. I love two of them but find the harder type a little bit too much to handle with it’s dryness and more pungent smell (purists would love it though). Caesar salad came with plenty of prawns, bacon, Parmesan cheese and egg. It was very refreshing and delicious!

However, my favorite of the day has to go to the prosciutto and melone. I never knew parma ham could go so well with rock melon, the saltiness of the meat and the sweetness of the rock melon was absolutely brilliant! You must order this when you go to Bermuda and Onion, do not forget this!

wild boar fettuccine, bread dumpling soup, pork chop ala mustard

Then came assault of main dishes. The wild boar fettuccine was pretty strong tasting, with generous chunks of wild boar meat and mushroom cooked with fresh herbs. The speck ‘canedarli’ gnocchi is a homemade Italian bread dumpling served in double boiled chicken broth and Parmesan cheese. The chef explained that they’d have made this bigger in Italy as compared to here.

Then of course, there’s the pork chop ala mustard that came in a huge plate. A generous slab of pork chop is pan seared, and served with creamy Dijon mustard sauce and plenty of mash potato. Very rich and creamy but really good.

sea bass and roasted pork belly

Just as we thought the lunch session is coming to an end, two glorious dishes appeared. The interesting looking sea bass and roasted pork belly.

The sea bass, as with most dishes from this restaurant, didn’t escape the influence of pork. Mantled with parma ham and served with mixed sauteed vegetables, it gives you a false sense of enjoying “healthy” seafood but of course, with a more satisfying experience through the taste buds.

As for the pork belly, what can I say? Proper and glorious layers of pork skin, fat, and meat served in a thick brown sauce with mashed potato and Lardoni bacon, I can’t help myself but to continue slicing it up and chew em down despite already being very full.

hot restaurant manager Sharmini, and good Chef Max

We capped the day with a hot cup of cafe latte, it was definitely the best lunch I’ve had in a long while. Chef Max and restaurant manager Sharmini were very friendly, as with baby Marco’s parents as well.

Price wise, I’d think this place is pretty reasonable. The skewers are RM 8-9, my favorite parma ham with melon at RM33, other main dishes are priced at around 30+ to 50+. Give it a try!

Bermuda & Onion is located at Changkat Bukit Bintang, nearby Jalan Alor

Address:
no. 41 Changkat Bukit Bintang,
50200 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.147592, 101.708100
Tel: 03-2145 8333

Tags:  belly,  cangkat bukit bintang,  delicious,  dining,  food,  italian,  mustard,  onion,  parma ham,  pork

Posted by KY | 40 Comments »

While our Muslim friends were celebrating the Prophet’s birthday last Thursday, I was invited to sample some dishes at Lisa Spaghetti at SS15, Subang Jaya. As I have a limited stomach myself, Sammy and Dree were called upon to lend a stomach in this expedition. A friend in need is a friend indeed.

Address:
No. 38, Jalan SS15/8
Subang Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.076045, 101.590490
Tel: 016-345 8886

Tags:  italian,  lisa,  sammy,  spaghetti,  ss15,  student,  subang-jaya

Posted by KY | 34 Comments »

I was invited by photographer Stephen Wong to meet with Chef Marco from Switzerland at the Seri Pacific Hotel for a pasta tasting session last Tuesday. It was a chance not to be missed, despite the treacherous weather, we forged ahead with the plan.

chef Marco preparing four pasta sauce at the same time

When everyone finally arrived, we were introduced to chef Marco and his assistant Urs (pronounced uuhhrs). They were very friendly people. The good chef then went to do what he’s good at, making pasta.

Chef Marco was working with four pans at the concurrently, each with a different sauce. Two creamy sauce and two tomato based sauce. Considering the fact that this guy set the Malaysian Book of Record by preparing 402 sauce in 7 hours running 12 pans at the same time, this was no sweat whatsoever. Personally, I can only cook soup & fry another dish of vege while having the rice cooker running at the same time. =/

the four flavors

I was asking chef Marco about the name of his dishes, but he told me basically he doesn’t really name the dishes as he has over 700 recipes and it’ll be pointless to name them all.

Then of course, it’s eating time.

The four dishes were all very good. Two creamy seafood pastas each with its distinct taste, one with an Indian hint with the use of tumeric while another with sweetness to bring out the taste of the fresh shrimps. The two tomato based sauce, one vegetarian and the other with chicken tasted awesome as well. The fresh and sun dried tomato, the baby bok choy and the chicken was a surprising mix, but proved to be a good one. A slight oriental hint to the traditionally Italian dish.

the camwhores, and the cook book

After the excellent dinner, we were given a copy of the cook book “Pasta in Play”, authored by Chef Marco with photographs from Stephen Wong. The book is made in Malaysia and will be available at bookstores very soon (more on this once I get the details). Chef Marco is also planning to open a restaurant in KL sometime next year. He promised that he’ll stick to the true traditional ingredients (i.e: cooking with white wine in some dishes) in the new restaurant, I can’t wait.

Kelly Kel Li and Natalie, who took so many pictures of themselves it gave the chef and his assistant (and me!) a cultural shock has already written their piece on the experience too.

Update:
FA and foodlover’s takes

Tags:  dining,  food,  italian,  KL,  ky,  marco,  pasta,  swiss

Posted by KY | 13 Comments »

Many of you ah bengs love to enjoy fine food, but don’t really want to lose an arm and a leg for a meal. Well here’s something for you, awesome authentic Italian food that is easy on the pocket. How does RM 9.90++ for set lunch sound to you? Great, me too.

RM 9.90++ in an authentic place, you can’t ask for more?

The place is located at SS2 next to Public Bank, or, directly behind Maybank. Parking might not be easiest to find during weekdays, but weekends should be alright. The restaurant is run by actual european white boys (ok, maybe old men), and the waitresses wear the Italian football jersey as their uniform. The interior decoration is not overly complicated, but definately with an Italian taste. And yes, the toilet is clean.

Big plate of spaghetti, GONE!

The RM 9.90 set lunch is the cheapest combo. You can choose between mushroom or minestrone soup, a glass of soft drink, and a main dish. Usually I go for spaghetti primavera, all vege. You can also get pizzas, rossito, and more.

The food is great, the price is good. Dating a chick when you’re on a budget and yet you want to go to a quiet place with great food, go there!

Cheers!

Address:
61, Jalan SS 2/75,
47300 Petaling Jaya
GPS: 3.120322, 101.622140

Tags:  italian,  pizza,  spaghetti,  SS2 SS3 SS4

Posted by KY_a | No Comments »