First, a little snippet from wiki about Napa Valley:
In 1965, Napa Valley icon Robert Mondavi broke away from his family’s Charles Krug estate to found his own. This was the first new large scale winery to be established in the valley since before prohibition. Following the establishment of the Mondavi estate, the number of wineries in the valley continued to grow, as did the region’s reputation.
Travis Brown, Regional Director for Asia for Robert Mondavi wines
In addition, Robert Mondavi Winery also perfected the dry oak-aged Sauvignon Blanc and labeled it as ”Fumé Blanc” in 1966. This was an unpopular variety in California at the time, but the wine proved to be a success.
In time, Robert Mondavi successfully developed a number of premium wines that earned the respect of connoisseurs and vintners alike.
tomato, cheese, bread, calamari, simple yet utterly delicious
A few weeks ago, we were invited to the winemaker’s dinner at Favola, Le Meridien KL.
Classy Italian food prepared by one of my favorite chefs – Chef Antoine, and pairing them with some fine wines from Robert Mondavi, what is there not to like?
Fumé Blanc, Robert Mondavi’s version of Sauvignon Blanc
We sampled Chardonnay sourced from the cool growing regions of the southern Napa Valley with its rich and complex taste; Pinot Noir, a bright and vivacious wine; the full body Merlot; the soft and silky Cabernet Sauvignon; and of course, the Fumé Blanc.
David Stephen and the good chefs at Le Meridien KL
As for food, there were the usual arrays of excellent pasta, tomato, cheese, pizza, bread, risotto, and of course, the best freshly made Belgium waffle ever.
Though my knowledge in wine is still amateur at best, I did learn a few things after this event, and would at least know which wine to choose from without being disappointed. 
Address:
Favola
2 Jalan Stesen Sentral,
Kuala Lumpur 50470
GPS: 3.135631,101.686476
Tel: 03-2263 7888
First of all, Selamat Berpuasa to all my Muslim friends.
Remember the free dinner at Le Meriden contest I was running a while ago? Well, it’s over with and the winners all claimed their prizes already – a sumptuous Santapan Ramadan Buffet dinner at Le Meridien KL’s Latest Recipe.
Haze and Ciki at Le Meridien’s Latest Recipe
The four winners and their partners all showed up, and together with Ciki, Josen, Haze, and I, we had a plenty good time while sampling the Ramadan buffet spread.
oysters, shrimps, mussels, salmon, and more
The spread for Santapan Ramadan buffet is even bigger than the usual offerings at Latest Recipe.
There’s the standard dishes – salmon and various cold cuts, shrimps, mussle, crab, and of course, oysters too. These are the items I usually kick off my buffet dinner with, it is usually a good idea to keep the stronger tasting stuff later as to not over saturate your taste buds.
traditional Malay food too, I love the beef curry
Quite a lot of traditional Malaysian dishes found their way on the line up too. Otak-otak (though I didn’t find their version to be very good), whole roast lamb, begedil, and different types of gulai & curry. The beef curry was very good!
Chef Antoine and his two side kicks at Latest Recipe
There are also made to order dishes you can get. Chef Antoine was there to man the pasta counter and we got him to prepare a mean plate of piping hot carbonara for us.
many more dishes, including cold cuts and kuih at Satapan buffet
Traditional kuih muih were also available, and this is one of the few buffets where you can choose drinks other than just ice water too. Don’t you hate it when you are already paying decent sum for buffet and all they give you is plain water? I know I do.
Oh, the sugar cane juice is superb, reminds me of when McDonald’s used to serve it.
pasta was made by chef Antoine, and those Belgium waffles were awesome!
Above all, the dish I love most at Latest Recipe is their Belgium waffles. Yes, it is a bit odd to be indulging on mere waffles looking at the huge buffet spread, but do give it a try when you are there, it is simply the lightest, yummiest waffle I’ve ever had.
the contest winners with Ciki & myself flanking
Prices of the buffet:
Again, congratulations to Chen Mee Kuan, Jennifer Amelia Clement, Joel Tan Tyan Min, and Norazalia Musa. I hope all of you had a good time. Cheers!
Address:
Latest Recipe
2 Jalan Stesen Sentral,
Kuala Lumpur 50470
GPS: 3.135631,101.686476
Tel: 03-2263 7888
The winners to the Le Meridien Santapan Buffet Dinner for 2 at Latest Recipe contest have been announced and emails have been sent out to the winners. Congratulations to
The answers were: Prime Steak House, Favola Italian Restaurant, and Latest Recipe. Winners were chosen by a randomizer from those with correct answers, so blame it on lady luck (of the lack of) if you got everything right but no dinner. Boohoo!
Congrats again and see you guys at the dinner this Friday!
Do you know what’s better than awesome food? Free awesome food!
In this post, you are going to find out how to win a voucher for Santapan Buffet Dinner for 2 at Latest Recipe, Le Meridien KL.
The contest is super simple and two of you, my dear readers of this humble blog, will be walking away with the vouchers. In another word, 4 of you will dine for free!
Contest Name: Guess the restaurant and stand a chance to win a Santapan Buffet Dinner for 2 at Latest Recipe
(this is probably one of the longest contest name ever, I wonder if there’s a contest for longest contest name.. ermm)
Of course, since the only way to know if you got to know about the contest via this blog, kindly leave a comment on this post too (but not with the answers, since you don’t want others to know, right? )
Contest starting from 4th July till 18th July 5PM. Winners will be announced on the 19th July.
Dinner and prize giving location and date: Latest Recipe, 22nd July @ 7PM. (I will be there so we can makan together!)
Terms and conditions:
This contest is open to all readers of kyspeaks.com, cumidanciki.com and Facebook fans of LMKL.
This contest may not be participated by employees of Starwood Hotels and Resorts.
Winners will be randomly selected.
Vouchers may not be redeemed for cash.
Vouchers must be consumed on the 22nd July 2011.
Last month it was the Vietnamese cooking demo and Vietnamese promotion at Latest Recipe, Le Meridien. Now the very same hotel runs the Taste of Italy” culinary event featuring guest Chef Fabrizio from Westin Bejing Financial Street.
Together with a bunch of bloggers & members of media, we were treated to a cooking demonstration by the good chef, and here’s one of his recipe.
Now even I think I can properly cook a meal with lobster that will do the shell fish justice. Here’s the recipe.
glorious Maine lobster in frying pan with olive oil, herbs & cherry tomato
Ingredients:
For the pesto
here’s the spaghetti with lobster
The preparation method is pretty straight forward, and let me just copy verbatim from Chef Fabrizio’s text.
Roast garlic in large pan with olive oil. Add lobster, cherry tomato and cook with some water, add seasoning. Boil pasta in a large pot with salted water until the favorite cooking. Blend herbs with the olive oil for pesto. Take“` lobster out of the sauce, clean the tongs and half the tail. Arrange halved tail in a plate. Strain spaghetti and add sauce with herb pesto and butter. Arrange spaghetti beside the lobster, add lobster meat. Decorate with some herb leaves and serve.
fresh spring herb pesto, prepared with a blender
It’s pretty simple isn’t it?
Chef Fabrizio has a bit of flair and the lack of “seriousness” when it comes to preparation of his dishes. As he proudly said “I am not a pastry chef”, and cooking should involves a sense of flexibility and creativity. I like this style.
In fact, in a short span of 1 hour or so, the good chef prepared three dishes right in front of us, including the eggplant millefeuille recipe shared by Kim.
and we were served a very good buffet spread too, Chef Fabrizio & Chef Antoine
To get a taste of Chef Fabrizio’s creations, you can head to Favola at Le Meridien KL from June 4 to June 12, 2011. Ala carte goes for RM 25++ to RM 130++. Don’t miss out especially if you’re a fan of authentic Italian cuisine.
KY with Chef Fabrizio, Jon & Ciki, Cindy & Kim & Haze, Kim & Gareth
We were also fed an awesome spread of Italian dishes after the event (and after we sampled all three dishes prepared by Chef Fabrizio). There were cold cuts, clams, pizza, bruschetta, smoked salmon, salad, and more. It was a fantastic and certainly gastronomically satisfied session.
Address:
Favola
2 Jalan Stesen Sentral,
Kuala Lumpur 50470
GPS: 3.135631,101.686476
Tel: 03-2263 7888
